Russia says 1,351 of its soldiers have died in the fighting in Ukraine, the first casualty update that Moscow has given in more than three weeks and a figure well below Western intelligence and Ukrainian estimates.
Senior military officials said in Moscow on March 25 that 3,850 Russian soldiers had been injured in the fighting, which began on February 24 when Russia launched its unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
Russian officials last gave an estimate on troop deaths from the fighting on March 2, when they said 498 soldiers had died.
The latest figure from Russia is markedly different than estimates by others.
A NATO official told AP on March 24 that the Russian death toll was likely between 7,000 and 14,000, although numbers from both sides are impossible to independently confirm.
That figure compares with a March 16 report in The New York Times which quoted officials as saying that conservative U.S. intelligence estimates put the death toll for Russian soldiers at around 7,000.
Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces said in a tweet on March 23 that more than 15,000 Russian soldiers have died in the fighting.