Photo: SERGEY BOBOK / AFP / Getty Images
You may enter 5,000 and 6,000 Russian soldiers have died in the the first two weeks of the invasion of Ukraine, an unnamed US official quoted by multiple media outlets estimated on Wednesday. The official stressed, however, that it is a difficult figure to evaluate in real time, and that it could be closer to 3, 200 casualties of the Russian army.
The number increased considerably from an estimate of 3,000 Russian casualties in Ukraine just a few days ago, which reflects fierce fighting and updated US intelligence estimates
Experts warn that the number of victims is difficult to assess, and the numbers on both sides of the conflict have varied widely. Still, the official described the number as “very, very significant casualties”, comparing the count with the losses of some World War II battles. The official did not give an estimate of the number of Russian soldiers wounded, but the figure in most wars is generally around three times as many dead, which would put that number between 15,03 and 18,000.
Toll of deaths of Ukrainian civilians due to bombings grows
The war has claimed thousands of lives and has led more than two million people to leave Ukraine in less than two weeks, one of the largest and fastest flows of refugees ever seen. United Nations said on Wednesday that its monitors had confirmed 516 civilian deaths and 908 wounded, and acknowledged that the numbers were certainly too low, in part due to the inability to count casualties in and around southeastern cities, such as Mariupol, where fighting has been heavy.
Only in the city of Mariupol, where an airstrike hit a maternity hospital on Wednesday, injuring at least 14 people, about 1, 200 people have died in the course of the nine-day siege of the city by Russia
, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said, according to the Associated Press. Ceasefires in a handful of major Ukrainian cities were largely held on Wednesday, allowing civilians to flee from neighborhoods that have been hit hard nte days by the Russian artillery.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “almost, almost 35,000 people were rescued” through the humanitarian corridors established on Wednesday.
“Today we were able to organize three humanitarian corridors: from the city of Sumy, from the city of Kiev and the Kiev region, and from Enerhodar,” Zelensky said, adding that the efforts will continue on Thursday.
The President of Ukraine said that Ukrainian authorities were preparing six humanitarian corridors to get people out of areas attacked by Russian forces.
However, those who still are in the country struggling to gain access to basic supplies, such as water, food and medicine, and facing attacks Russian air strikes.
Russia has not advanced further on Ukraine despite bombing civilians
With little change in operations since yesterday, the Russians have yet to gain superiority over the entirety of Ukraine, a senior Defense Department official reported today.
The day 14 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Defense Department officials observed more than 675 missile launches of all varieties, almost equally divided between those launched within Ukraine and from Russia, the official said.
“We believe that around Kharkiv, They have been reevaluated to be just outside of town now. They seem to have gained about 15 km away. [Todavía hay] intense fighting there. We do not assess that they have taken the city in any way, but they have surrounded it”, said the Pentagon official.
“The same can be said a bit about Mykolayiv, in the south [de Ucrania]. We did not see them in the last 17 hours move further towards the north of Mykolayiv, and we estimate that they are about km away, but north of Mykolayiv. And they have increased the bombardment of the city”.
Regarding Kiev, the officer reported that the same situation was observed since yesterday, basically the Russian troops are where they were yesterday and there are no significant changes with respect to Chernihiv, to the northeast. Once again, he said he, there is a lot of fighting there. They have not isolated Chernihiv, but it clearly seems that they are trying to do so.
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– The White House warns that Russia could use chemical weapons in Ukraine
– Ukraine accuses Russian forces of bombing a maternity and children’s hospital in the city Mariupol besieged
– Chernobyl nuclear power plant loses power after attacks by Russian troops in Ukraine