NATO estimated on Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four weeks of fighting in Ukraine, where the country's defenders have put up stiffer-than-expected resistance and denied Moscow the lightning victory it hoped for.
By way of comparison, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 ended a decade later with an estimated 15,000 Soviet troops killed.
A senior NATO military official said its estimate of Russian losses was based on information from Ukrainian officials, details Russia has released — intentionally or not — and intelligence gathered from open sources. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by NATO.
When Russia unleashed its invasion Feb. 24 in Europe's biggest offensive since the Second World War and brandished the prospect of nuclear escalation if the West intervened, a swift toppling of Ukraine's democratically elected government seemed likely.
But with Wednesday marking four full weeks of fighting, Russia is bogged down in a grinding military campaign.
With its ground forces repeatedly slowed or stopped by hit-and-run Ukrainian units armed with Western-supplied weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops are bombarding targets from afar, falling back on the tactics they used in reducing cities to ruins in Syria and Chechnya.
As U.S. President Joe Biden left for Europe on Wednesday to meet with key allies about possible new sanctions against Moscow and more military aid to Ukraine, he warned there is a "real threat" Russia could use chemical weapons.
Addressing Japan's parliament on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said four weeks of war have killed thousands of his people, including at least 121 children. The figures have not been independently verified. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Wednesday that it has so far confirmed 977 civilian deaths and that the figure is likely much higher.
"Our people cannot even adequately bury their murdered relatives, friends and neighbours. They have to be buried right in the yards of destroyed buildings, next to the roads," he said.
Top Putin aide resigns
In an apparent reflection of growing divisions in Russia's top echelons, top official Anatoly Chubais has resigned, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Interfax news agency.
Chubais, the architect of Russia's post-Soviet privatization campaign, had served in a variety of top roles over three decades. His latest was as Putin's envoy to international organizations.
Peskov would not say if Chubais had left the country.
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Humanitarian situation in Ukraine deteriorating, WHO says
4 hours agoDuration 3:22Nearly a quarter of Ukraine's population has been forcibly displaced by the Russian invasion, said World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. That is leading to a deepening of the humanitarian crisis in the country, he said. 3:22
The war's economic and geopolitical shockwaves — with soaring energy prices, fears for global food supplies, and Russia and China aligning in a new world order with Cold War echoes — have reverberated across a world yet to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis.
Major Russian objectives remain unfulfilled. The capital, Kyiv, has been shelled repeatedly but is not encircled.
More shelling and gunfire shook the city Wednesday, with plumes of black smoke rising from the western outskirts, where the two sides battled for control of multiple suburbs. Mayor Vitali Klitschko, said at least 264 civilians have been killed in the capital since war broke out.
Ukraine holds on to Mariupol
In the south, the port city of Mariupol has seen the worst devastation of the war, enduring weeks of siege and bombardment. But Ukrainian forces have prevented its fall, thwarting an apparent bid by Moscow to fully secure a land bridge from Russia to Crimea, seized from Ukraine in 2014.
Zelenskyy said 100,000 civilians remain in a city that had 430,000 people. It has been shattered by strikes from air, land and sea, and repeated efforts to get desperately needed food and other supplies to those trapped have often failed.
"They bombed us for the past 20 days," said 39-year-old Viktoria Totsen, who fled into Poland. "During the last five days, the planes were flying over us every five seconds and dropped bombs everywhere — on residential buildings, kindergartens, art schools, everywhere."
Zelensky accused Russian forces of seizing a humanitarian convoy. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said the Russians were holding captive 11 bus drivers and four rescue workers along with their vehicles.
Ukraine says Russia seized relief workers in convoy to Mariupol
8 hours agoDuration 7:20Ukrainian leaders accused Russia of seizing 15 rescue workers and drivers from a humanitarian convoy trying to get food and supplies into Mariupol. President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that 100,000 civilians remained in the besieged port city. 7:20
The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross travelled Wednesday to Moscow for discussions with Russian officials on humanitarian aid, prisoners of war and other matters.
"The devastation caused by the conflict in recent weeks, as well as eight years of conflict in Donbas, has been vast," Red Cross President Peter Maurer said referring to the region in Eastern Ukraine where pro-Russia separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014.
Entire neighbourhoods destroyed: refugee
It is not clear how much of Mariupol is still under Ukrainian control. Fleeing residents say fighting continues street by street. In their last update, over a week ago, Mariupol officials said at least 2,300 people had died, but the true toll is hard to independently verify and could be much higher. Airstrikes in the past week destroyed a theatre and an art school where civilians were sheltering in underground bomb shelters.
In the besieged northern city of Chernihiv, Russian forces bombed and destroyed a bridge that was used for aid deliveries and civilian evacuations, regional governor Viacheslav Chaus said.
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Kateryna Mytkevich, who arrived in Poland after fleeing Chernihiv, wiped away tears as she spoke about what she had seen.
The city is without gas, electricity or running water, said Mytkevich, 39, and entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed.
"I don't understand why we have such a curse," she said.
Russia says 'military operation' going according to plan
Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, the Kremlin spokesperson insisted the military operation was going "strictly in accordance" to plans.
Russia wants to "get rid of the military potential of Ukraine" and to "ensure that Ukraine changes from an anti-Russian centre to a neutral country," Peskov said.
The most recent figure for Ukraine's military losses came from Zelenskyy on March 12, when he said that about 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in action.
Russia has released very little information on its casualties, saying March 2 that nearly 500 soldiers had been killed and almost 1,600 wounded.
Ukraine also claims to have killed six Russian generals. Russia acknowledges just one dead general.
Russia in for 'bitter, protracted' fight to win in Ukraine, says analyst
7 hours agoDuration 9:35Russian President Vladimir Putin may be able to achieve Russia's military objectives in Ukraine, but he won't be able to break the will of the Ukrainian people, says British defence analyst Nicholas Drummond. 9:35
Officially, Russia is calling the campaign a "special military operation." It has effectively outlawed terms such as "invasion" and "war" in reference to Ukraine, and police have arrested thousands of antiwar protesters.
But as casualties mount and quick victory is no longer in sight, Russia is having to work to shore up morale. It has arrested thousands of antiwar protesters and cracked down on the media.
Under a law passed Wednesday, troops in Ukraine will get the same benefits as veterans of previous wars, including tax breaks, discounts on utilities and preferential access to medical treatment.
Talks to end the fighting have continued by video. Zelensky said negotiations with Russia are going "step by step, but they are going forward."
With no peace, those not yet fighting prepared to do so.
"Everything's a best-seller these days," said Zakhar Sluzhalyy, who owns a gun shop in the western city of Lviv.
"We're defending our land," he said.xjmtzyw "We're fighting for our freedom and that of the rest of Europe.
