MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - More than 600,000 Russian troops have either been killed or injured in the war against Ukraine, the Pentagon says.
This was disclosed by a senior Defense Department official at a press briefing Wednesday.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukrainian military has inflicted more than 600,000 casualties on Russian forces, the senior defense official said.
This past month, 'Russian forces sustained more casualties in terms of both killed and wounded in action than in any other month of the war,' a press release issued by DOD News quoted the official as saying.
Russian losses, both killed and wounded in action in just the first year of the war exceeded the total of all Russian losses, or Soviet losses in any conflict since World War II combined.
The official noted that Ukrainian forces also have sunk, destroyed or damaged at least 32 medium to large Russian navy vessels in the Black Sea. This has forced Russia to relocate its Black Sea Fleet away from Crimea.
Ukrainian forces have destroyed more than two-thirds of Russia's pre-war inventory of tanks prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to equip front-line forces with Soviet-era stockpiles and tanks from World War II.
'As far as long-range strikes, we've seen some successful one-way attack drone strikes by the Ukrainians against ammo storage points in Russia,' the military official said. 'We've also seen some strikes against fuel facilities in Crimea. We do think that those will have some impact on the battlefield.'
The official highlighted Ukrainian air defense efforts. 'It's a tough fight with a large number of attacks coming from the Russians each day, but the Ukrainians are doing a sound job of defending their critical infrastructure and defending at the front lines.' He said the U.S. Defense Department is 'keeping a very close eye on their inventories of weapons', and working with 'policy counterparts to try to increase the stocks that they have on hand for their defense against those attacks.'
The Pentagon officials see a tough road ahead for Ukraine, as Russian Prsident Vladimir Putin continues to devote a significant amount of resources to the fight.
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