Ukraine Claims Roughly 4,500 Russian Invaders Killed

Enemy forces have suffered the loss of around 4,500 personnel over the course of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s armed forces.

The estimate was released Sunday evening, four days into the conflict, while Russian military forces escalated their attack on the capital of Kyiv and other locations and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson he believed the next 24 hours was a “crucial” period for his country, according to a No. 10 spokesperson.

A Facebook post from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine also said hundreds of armored vehicles, about 150 tanks, and dozens of assorted aircraft, boats, and weapons systems have been damaged or destroyed. Russia’s defense ministry has reported more than 1,000 Ukrainian military facilities have been destroyed and on Sunday, for the first time, acknowledged that some servicemen taking part in the military operation in Ukraine have died, but did not share any casualty numbers.

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“Russian servicemen are showing courage and heroism during the special military operation. But, regrettably, there are killed and wounded among them,” the ministry’s spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said, adding that Russia’s losses are by far lesser than “losses among Ukrainian troops” and nationalists, as reported by Russian state news agency TASS. Konashenkov also acknowledged Russian soldiers have been taken prisoner.

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said on Sunday that 352 civilians are known to have been killed in the invasion, 14 of whom were identified as children, and 1,684 people, including 116 children, were injured.

The invasion began Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin announcing a “special military operation” that he said was aimed at the “demilitarization and de-Nazification” of Ukraine, not its occupation. Putin also warned other countries that any attempt to interfere would lead to “consequences you have never seen.”

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Although Russia’s forces greatly outnumber Ukrainian forces, progress with the assault has been slower than Moscow expected, according to Western intelligence assessments. A senior Pentagon official said Russia had committed two-thirds of its 150,000-plus amassed forces to fight inside Ukraine and fired more than 320 missiles but had not taken any major population centers, Axios reported Sunday. Putin placed his nuclear forces on high alert on Sunday, citing “aggressive statements” by NATO and Western sanctions, and a senior U.S. intelligence official told the Associated Press that Belarus could send troops into Ukraine to fight alongside Russian forces as soon as Monday.

Ukraine declared martial law, and all adult men, 18-60, have been ordered to stay in the country. Civilians in Ukraine are making home-made Molotov cocktails to help fight Russian forces.

(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

With Ukrainians mounting a fierce defense, including in the capital of Kyiv, Zelensky has refused reported pleas for him to evacuate. “The fight is here. I need ammunition, not a ride,” he reportedly said. Talks between Ukrainian and Russian diplomats are expected to take place on Monday.

Meanwhile, more than 200,000 people have fled the violence in Ukraine and into neighboring countries.

Countries around the world, including the United States, have condemned Moscow’s invasion and have unleashed a wave of new sanctions on Russia. Although they aren’t sending troops to fight for Ukraine, over the past couple of days, President Joe Biden and other world leaders authorized tens of millions of dollars in additional military support for Ukrainian forces.

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Among other actions taken by European nations is the blocking of Russian flights from their airspace. The European Union announced Sunday it will send weapons, including fighter planes, to Ukraine as the Eastern European nation battles an all-out invasion from neighboring Russia. The United Nations Security Council has called a rare special session of the General Assembly to take place on Monday to address the invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine is not a NATO member but neighbors a number of member states. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced Friday that the alliance is “now deploying the NATO Response Force for the first time in a collective defense context” in response to Russia’s invasion.