In battles for the eastern Ukrainian city Bachmut are after estimate from US Secret Services on Russian side more than since December 20,000 soldiers killed been.
At about the half of them are soldiers of the Russian Wagner mercenaries, said National Security Council communications director John Kirby in Washington. Most of these mercenaries were Russian convicts sent to war without adequate combat or combat training. The information cannot be independently verified.
The total number since December as a result of the battles for Bakhmut killed and hurt Soldiers on the Russian side are used by the secret services estimated at more than 100,000, Kirby continued. He did not provide information on the number of victims of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Kirby said that strategic value a reconquest of Bakhmut by Russia small amount and will not change the course of the war in Russia’s favour. “For Russia, these efforts, especially in Bakhmut, come at a very, very high price,” Kirby said. Russia’s stockpiles of weapons and troops are exhausted, but Ukraine’s defenses in the areas around Bakhmut remain strong.