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US officials told the New York Times that the total number of Ukrainian and Russian troops killed or wounded since the war in Ukraine began 18 months ago is nearing 500,000.
It marks a significant rise in the death toll this year following intense fighting in the country’s east.
The unnamed officials claimed that Russia’s military casualties are approaching 300,000, with as many as 120,000 killed in action.
They added that Ukrainian deaths were nearly 70,000, with 100,000 to 120,000 wounded.
The newspaper reported the casualty count had picked up after Ukraine launched its counteroffensive earlier this year.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said only the General Staff could disclose such figures.
“We have adopted a model that only the General Staff has the right to voice the figures on the wounded, the disabled, people who lost limbs, and the missing, and, of course, the number of people who died in this war,” he said in a broadcast on the Youtube channel of journalist Yulia Latynina on Friday.
Russia made no immediate comment on the report.
lo/ab (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
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