More than 8,300 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in November, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
Sputnik reported, Minister Shoigu on December 6 said: “Ukraine’s losses in November were more than 8,300 soldiers, 5 aircraft, 10 helicopters, 149 tanks and more than 300 armored fighting vehicles.”
According to Shoigu, Ukraine has suffered significant losses in terms of forces and equipment in the southern Donetsk region and in the Lugansk-Donetsk direction in the Donbass region.
Ukraine has not commented on the information provided by Russia. In recent times, the casualty figures announced by Russia and Ukraine are often quite different.
Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on December 1 that Ukraine had lost 10,000-13,000 soldiers since Russia launched a military operation in the neighboring country at the end of February.
“We have official figures from the general staff, we have official figures from the highest command, and the numbers range (from) 10,000 to 12,500-13,000 killed,” he said. Podolyak told Kanal 24 channel.
On November 30, European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen estimated the loss of manpower that the Ukrainian military suffered in the conflict with Russia.
“More than 100,000 Ukrainian military officers have been killed so far,” von der Leyen said, adding that about 20,000 civilians have also been killed in Russia’s military operation in Ukraine since late February.
Ukraine’s presidential spokesman, Sergey Nikoforov, later said that information about the number of soldiers killed was sensitive and should only be released by high-ranking figures in Ukraine.
The EC then deleted von der Leyen’s message on social media and replaced it with another post that did not mention the number of Ukrainian casualties. The EC did not elaborate further on their move.
Earlier, General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in November that the number of Russian servicemen killed and wounded after more than eight months of conflict with Ukraine may have exceeded 100,000, and The Kiev side may have suffered a similar number of casualties. He called on the parties to take advantage of the opportunity to find a negotiated solution to close the war that cost people and money.
Another adviser to the Ukrainian president, Oleksiy Arestovych, said late last month that Russia’s military death toll was seven times higher than Ukraine’s.
On December 6, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Moscow shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 aircraft in Donetsk. Russia gained positions along the lines in the direction of Krasny Liman, eliminating more than 80 Ukrainian servicemen.
Russia said it repelled Ukrainian attacks in the direction of Kupyansk, eliminating 65 enemy troops. Russian forces continued to successfully attack in the direction of Donetsk, repelling the advance of the Ukrainian army.
In Kharkov, Russia announced that it had destroyed the temporary deployment area of Ukrainian foreign mercenaries. South of Donetsk, Russia said it had stopped the Ukrainian attack, pushing Kiev forces back to their original positions. In Zaporizhia, Russia said it destroyed three Ukrainian ammunition depots.
