Ukraine says more than 11,000 Russian troops killed since invasion began

Ukraine’s military command on Sunday alleged more than 11,000 Russian troops have been killed since Vladimir Putin declared war on the eastern European country on 24 February.

It added that the Russian forces have suffered the loss of 2,000 units of enemy weapons and military equipment, including 285 tanks, 44 aircraft and 48 helicopters.

“In the Luhansk region, the entire front line is littered with corpses and lined equipment of the invaders,” the ministry said in its statement on Sunday, the eleventh day of the Russian invasion.

A day earlier, the Ukrainian military had put Russian casualties at over 10,000.

“Russia has not suffered so many casualties during the fighting in any of its armed conflicts since its inception,” the ministry had said, without reporting on Ukrainian casualties.

The Russian defence ministry, in its first report on casualties earlier last week, had said that 498 Russian troops were killed while 1,597 more sustained wounds.

There has been no immediate Russian reaction to Sunday’s claims by Ukraine’s military command.

Russia has, however, said it has struck and destroyed Ukraine’s Starokostiantyniv military air base with long-range, high-precision weapons, a key military base located in the Khmelnytskyi province in western Ukraine.

“The Russia armed forces continue to strike the military infrastructure of Ukraine,” Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

“On the morning of March 6, strikes were carried out by high-precision long-range weapons. The Ukrainian air force base near Starokostiantyniv was disabled.”

World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, meanwhile, has said there have been “several attacks” on health care centres across Ukraine, “causing multiple deaths and injuries”.

“Attacks on healthcare facilities or workers breach medical neutrality and are violations of international humanitarian law,” he said in a tweet on Sunday.

According to British intelligence, Mr Putin’s forces are targeting populated areas across Ukraine, while facing tough resistance from locals.

In their latest update, British intelligence officials said Russian troops were beginning to employ tactics in Ukraine similar to those used in Chechnya in 1999 and Syria in 2016.

“The scale and strength of Ukrainian resistance continue to surprise Russia. It has responded by targeting populated areas in multiple locations, including Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol,” it said.

The number of Ukrainians fleeing the war-torn country is likely to rise to 1.5 million. Most refugees were seen moving to the west towards Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova and Hungary.

Poland, which has opened its doors to a lion’s share of Ukrainian refugees, has reportedly absorbed over 650,000 people, while Moldova on Sunday said it had offered sanctuary to more than 96,000 people.

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