Britain Calls Russia Losing An Average Of 800 Armys Per Day In The PAST Week In The Field Of War Ukraine

Illustration of the Russian army in Ukraine. (Wikimedia Common/Mil.ru)

JAKARTA - Russia has lost a large and fast number of troops, more than 800 people per day, since its invasion a year ago, according to British Defense Ministry intelligence data.

Moscow is said to have recorded an unprecedented number of army deaths since the invasion, as the spring attack that Kyiv had anticipated began.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week said Russia had started a planned attack that analysts had warned for weeks.

Britain's Defense Ministry said the first attack had dealt a heavy blow to Russian strikers.

"Over the past two weeks, Russia has likely suffered the highest death toll since the first week of the invasion of Ukraine," the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

The ministry said, while the numbers from Kyiv could not be verified, "the trends illustrated by the data are likely to be accurate."

"The average for the past seven days was 824 victims per day, more than four times the number reported during June-July 2022," the ministry said, adding that Ukrainian soldiers recorded a high loss mark.

"The increase in the number of Russian casualties is likely due to various factors, including the lack of trained personnel, coordination, and frontline resources, exemplifying conditions in Vuhledar and Bakhmut," the statement concluded.

Meanwhile, the Wagner Group's Russian paramilitary group on Sunday claimed to have seized a village a few kilometers from the main city of Bakhmut.

Moscow has been trying to control Bakhmut for months in the Donestsk area. The city, which had a population of 73,000 before the war, is strategically vital, because it is located on strategic highways and is close to several railway lines.

Mastering the city under their control will give Russia a chance to launch attacks on nearby cities.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner's head, said on Sunday: "Today, Wagner's assault unit captured the city of Krasna Hora."

The rivalry between the group, which consists mostly of inmates, and the Russian army surfaced during the war to control Bakhmut. However, the Kremlin denies any rifts.

Earlier, Prigozhin on January 11 claimed his fighters had taken control of the city of Soler, a salt mining town with a pre-war population of around 10,000 near Bakhmut.

Two days later, Russia's Ministry of Defense said Moscow forces had taken control of the city.