Ukraine Claims 5,800 Russian Troops Killed, 2000 Ukrainian Civilians Killed

The unverified death toll in Ukraine continues to increase steadily, with the government in Kyiv claiming that more than 5,800 Russian troops have been killed along with 2,000 Ukrainian civilians.

These counts from the Ukrainians came roughly a week after Russia launched its invasion into Ukraine.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced Wednesday that Russia has lost 5,840 soldiers, dozens of helicopters, planes, artillery systems, fuel tanks, and hundreds of combat armored machines and vehicles.

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Comparatively, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said the same day that 2,000 civilians have been killed. Their total is vastly different from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner, which said Tuesday that 136 civilians have been killed, 13 of which were children, while another 400 have been injured as of Tuesday morning.

The Pentagon has not independently confirmed the casualty count in Ukraine and warring nations have incentives to exaggerate the numbers. But, if Ukraine’s numbers are accurate, Russia is losing troops at a rate that comes close to the total number of U.S. casualties in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, which was roughly 6,700, and it does not include military contractors.

Russian forces have attacked on various axes as they attempt to capture strategic cities, but after almost a week, they have few gains to show for it.

The troops are roughly 15 miles away from the capital, which is roughly 3 miles closer than they had been over the weekend, though their advancement “remains slowed,” a senior defense official told reporters Monday, while the official said Tuesday that their setbacks have resulted in a shortage of fuel and food for troops, many of whom are conscripts who have “never been in combat” and “weren’t even told they were going to be in combat.”

The Pentagon did not observe much movement in the Russian convoy heading for the Ukrainian capital from Monday to Tuesday, and the official characterized their efforts to take control of the city as “stalled” because they’re facing more resistance than expected from Ukrainian forces.

In some instances, Russian troops have punched holes in their vehicles’ gas tanks, presumably to avoid getting into combat situations, the official added, while others surrendered without putting up a fight. A handful of young Russian prisoners of war reportedly began crying because they were unaware of what they’d be doing in Ukraine, according to the Daily Star.

Putin, according to Sam Charap, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, explained that at least part of the reason for this was that Putin kept his true intentions secret from even some of his generals.

“It’s pretty clear the nature of this operation was kept secret from all but a close handful of people,” Charap said, according to Defense One.

Among other actions taken by U.S. and European nations is blocking Russian flights from their airspace. Various Western countries have announced they will send weapons, including fighter planes, to Ukraine as the Eastern European nation battles the all-out invasion.

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Ukraine is not a NATO member but neighbors a number of NATO 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.

President Joe Biden has repeatedly said U.S. troops will not engage directly with Russian forces, though he has also repeatedly reaffirmed his commitment to honor NATO’s Article 5 clause, which says that if any NATO member gets attacked, it should be considered “an attack against them all.”