Russia Admits Signficant Losses, Huge Tragedy In Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has admitted that Russia had experienced “significant losses,” declaring the loss of life a “huge tragedy,” and Ukraine claimed Russia had lost around 18,900 soldiers since launching a full-scale invasion on Feb. 24.

Photo Insert: Ukraine claimed Russia has lost around 18,900 soldiers since launching a full-scale invasion on Feb. 24.

NATO estimates that up to 40,000 Russian troops have been killed, injured, captured, or gone missing within the first month.

Yet, Ukraine believes Russia is still obsessed with plans to capture Mariupol and break through Donbas defense lines, and its troops are regrouping and gathering more men near the city to start another offensive, Kyiv Independent, the Associated Press (AP) and Reuters reported.

Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said the 163 people killed by Russian soldiers in Bucha have been identified. Overall, 320 bodies of slain Ukrainians have been collected in Bucha, with that number growing daily.

In another development, the shuttered Russian news outlet Meduza released a video showing civilians killed in Bucha during the Russian occupation.

Meduza obtained drone footage of the city of Bucha with metadata from March 23-30 that shows dead bodies and Russian military equipment. Meduza obtained the footage from Russian nationalist Sergei “Botsman” Korotkikh, whose group is fighting on the side of Ukraine and who claims his fighters were regularly filming Russian positions in the area.

In Germany, the weekly Der Spiegel reported that Russian soldiers discussed killing civilians in Bucha by radio. The conversations have been intercepted by German intelligence, Der Spiegel reported on April 7.

Russian soldiers also said that Ukrainian prisoners of war had been shot dead after being interrogated. Reportedly, Chechen mercenaries deployed by Russian President Vladimir Putin carried out the killings after many of the Muslim fighters were killed by Ukrainian soldiers and members of the Georgian Legion.

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