NATO estimated on Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four weeks of war in Ukraine, where fierce resistance from the country's defendꦰers has denied Moscow the light♌ning victory it sought.
By way of co💯mparison, Russia lost about 15,000 troops over 10 years in Afghanistan.
A senior NATO military official said the alliance's estimate was based on information from Ukrainian authorities, what Russia has released — in🔥tentionally or not — and intelligence gathered from ope༒n sources.
The official spoke ൲on condition of anonymity under gr๊ound rules set by NATO.
Ukraine has released little information about its own military losses, and the West has not given an estimate, but President Volodymr Zelenskyy said nearly two weeks ago that about 1,300 Ukrainian servicemen had been k🔯illed.
When R𝔍ussia unleashed its invasion Feb. 24 in Europe's biggest offensive since World War II, a swift toppling of Ukraine's government seemed likely.
But with Wedn🌳esday marking four full weeks of fighting, Moscow is b﷽ogged down in a grinding military campaign.
Zelenskyy — who has riveted the world's attention with ad hoc videos and speeches to legisl꧅atures seeking military aid for his country — seized on the anniversary to plead for people around thꦇe world to gather in public Thursday to show support for Ukraine, saying the war breaks the heart of “every free person on the planet.”
“Come to your squares, your streets. Make yourselves visible and heard,” Zelenskyy said in Engliꦰsh durin🔴g an emotional video address to the nation, recorded in the dark near the presidential offices in Kyiv.
"Say that🐟 people matter♋. Freedom matters. Peace matters. Ukraine matters.”
Speaking in Russian, Zelenskyy appealed to Russians “to🌳 leave Russia so as not to give your tax money to the war.”
Tens of thousands of Russians already have fled their country since the war began, fearing an intensifying crackdown on dissent that has included the arrestღ of thousands of antiwar protesters and suppression of the media.
Zelenskyy, who will speak to NATO members by video 🌺on Thursday, also said he is asking the alliance to provide “effective and unrestricted” support to Ukraine, including any weapons the country needs to fend off the Russian invasion.
With its ground forces slowed or stopped by hit-and-run Ukrainian units arme🌃d with Western-supplied weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops are bombarding targets from afar, 🐠falling back on the tactics they used in reducing cities to rubble in Syria and Chechnya.
A senior US de🌺fense official said Wednesday that Russian ground forces appear to be digging in and setting up defens𒉰ive positions 15 to 20 kilometers outside Kyiv, the capital, as they make little to no progress toward the city centre.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military assessments, said it appears the forces are no longer trying to advance into the city, and in so🌳me areas east of Kyiv, Ukrainian troops have pushed Russian soldiers farther away.
Instead, Russian troops appear to be prioriti♔zing the fight in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in the Donbas, in what could be an effort to cut off Ukrainian troops and prevent them from moving west to defend other cities, the official said.
The US also has seen activity from Russian ships in the Sea of Azov, including w�🤪�hat appear to be efforts to send landing ships ashore with supplies, including vehicles, the official said.
In an ominous sign that Moscow might consider using nuclear weapons, a senior Russian official said the country's nuclear arsenal would help deter 𝐆the West from intervꦯening in Ukraine.
“The Russian Federation is capable of physically destroying any aggressor or any aggressor group within minutes at any distance,” Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the state aerospace corporation, Rosc𒉰osmos, said in televised remarks.
He noted that Mo🐠scow's nuclear stockpiles include tactical nuclear weapons, designed for use on battlefields, along with far more powerful nuclear-tipped🅘 intercontinental ballistic missiles. Roscosmos oversees missile-building facilities.
US officials long have warned that Russia's military doctrine envisag꧋es an “escalate to deescalate” option of using battlefield nuclear weapons to force the enemy to back down in a situation when Russian forces face imminent defeat. Moscow has denied having such plans.
Rogozin is known for his bluster, and he did not make clear what actions by the West would be seen as meddling,♐ but his comments almost certainly reflect thinking inside the Kremlin.
Putin has warned the West that💖 an attempt to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine would draw it into a conflict with Russia.
Western nations have said they would not create a no-fly zone to protect 🐭Uk🦋raine.
As US President Joe Biden left for Europe to meet with key allies about new sanctions against Moscow and more military aid to Ukraine, he warned there is a “real threat" Russia could use chemi꧅cal weapons.
On the eve of a meeting with Biden, European Union nations signed off on another 500 million euros ($550 million) in military a🌳id for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy appealed to Western countries to stay united in the face of Russia's efforts to “lobby its interests” with “some partners” to bring them over to its side, and noted during his national address that Ukraine has not recei🍷ved the fighter jets or modern air-defense systems it re🅷quested. He said Ukraine also needs tanks and anti-ship systems.
“It has been a mo👍nth of defending ourselves😼 from attempts to destroy us, wipe us off the face of the earth,” he said.
The US has determined that Russia🎶n troops have commi𒉰tted war crimes in Ukraine, and it will work to prosecute the offenders, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
He cited evidence of indiscriminate or deliberate attacks against civilians and the destruction of apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, shoppingꦡ cent⛎ers and other sites.
Still, major Russian objectives remain unfulfilled, including in Kyiv, where near-co꧟nstant shelling and⭕ gunfire shook the city Wednesday as the two sides battled for control of multiple suburbs.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least 264 civilians have beenꦚ killed in the capital s🌌ince the war broke out.
The shelling als𝄹o claimed the life of another journalist Wed🦩nesday.
The independent Russian news outlet The Insider said Russian journalist Oksana Baulina had been kill✨ed in a Kyiv neighbourhood.
In the south, the encircled port city of Mariupol has seen the wo🍌rst devastation of the war, enduring weeks of bombardment and, now, street-by-street fighting.
But Ukrainian forces have prevented its fall, thwarting an apparent bid by Moscow to fully secure a land bridge from Russia to🦹 Criꦬmea, seized from Ukraine in 2014.
Zelenskyy sai♌d 100,000 civilians remain in the city, which had 430,000🐭 people before the war.
Efforts to get desperately needed food and other supplies to those trapped have often♓ failed.
Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of seizing a humanitarian convoy. Deputy 💜Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said the Russians were holding captive 11 bus drivers and four rescue workers along with their vehicles.
In their last update, over a week ago, Mariupol officials said at least 2,300 people had died, but the true toll is probably mucꦉh higher. Airstrikes in the past week destroyed a theatre and an art school where civilia✨ns were sheltering.
In the besieged northern city of Chernihiv, Russian forces bombed and destroyed a bridge that was used for aid deliv𝓀eries and civilian evacuations, regional govern🍰or Viacheslav Chaus said.
Katery⛦na Mytkevich, who arrived in Poland after fleeing Chernihiv, wiped away tears as she spoke about what she had seen.
The city is without gas, electricity or running water, said Mඣytkevich, 39, and entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed.
“I don't understand why we have s⛎uch a curse," she said.
Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted the military operation is going “strictly in accordance" with plan♑s.
The NATO official said 30🐻,000 to 40,000 Russian soldiers are es﷽timated to have been killed or wounded.
In its last update, Russia said March 2 that nearly🌊 500 soldiers had been killed and almost 🐭1,600 wounded.
Ukraine also claims to have killed six Russian generals. Russia acknowledges just one dead gene💖ral.
The figures from NATO represent the alliance's first ꩵpublic estimate of Rus🌜sian casualties since the war began.
The US governmen✃t has largely declined to provide estimates of Russian or Ukrainian casualties, saying available information is of questionable reliability.
