Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu claimed on Friday that Ukraine has lost upwards of 111,000 troops since the start of 2024.
“The enemy’s daily losses in April increased to 1,000 servicemen. In total for this year, they [Ukraine’s losses] exceed 111,000 people [and] 21,000 units of weapons and military equipment,” Shoigu said at a meeting with Russia’s top army leadership.
The Russian defense minister did not specify whether this figure represents a death toll or includes both killed and injured Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesky said in February that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in action since the start of the full-scale war in 2022.
Shoigu also commented on Russia’s territorial gains, claiming that its forces had captured more than 547 square kilometers (211 square miles) of Ukrainian territory since the start of the year. Shoigu also said that in the last two weeks, Russia had captured the villages of Novobakhmutivka, Semenivka, and Berdychi in the Donetsk region.
According to Meduza’s assessment, Shoigu’s claims about Russia’s territorial gains are only slightly exaggerated and roughly correspond to the situation at the front as of the beginning of May.
The Ukrainian authorities have yet to comment on the Russian defense minister’s statements.
