Ukraine says it has killed 90,000 Russian troops and lost 13,000 of its own – after reports said Putin’s invaders killed 100,000

Ukraine said today it has killed 90,000 Russian soldiers and lost 13,000 of its own since the Russian invasion began in February.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Kiev troops killed about 90,090 Russian soldiers on the battlefield.

Meanwhile, in a rare comment on such figures, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy quoted military leaders as saying that up to 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died in the war, far below Western leaders’ estimates of Ukrainian casualties.

The latest figures come after the top US general estimated last month that 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed or wounded during Vladimir Putin’s invasion. He estimated that 100,000 Russian soldiers also died in the war.

Ukrainian soldiers fire a self-propelled howitzer at Russian positions on a front line in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on November 30.

Ukraine’s General Staff said today that its soldiers destroyed 2,916 Russian tanks, as well as 5,883 armored fighting vehicles and 395 multiple missile systems.

But the General Staff said Russian forces continued missile attacks on infrastructure and airstrikes on Ukrainian troop positions along the contact line, adding that Moscow’s military advance had targeted a dozen cities, including Bakhmut and Avdiivka – key targets for Russia in the disputed east .

Late Thursday, Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to President Zelenskyy, shared new figures on Ukrainian soldiers killed in combat, noting that the number of troops wounded was higher and the number of civilian casualties “significant.”

“We have official numbers from the General Staff, we have official numbers from the top command and it’s between 10,000 and 12,500 to 13,000 dead,” Podolyak told Channel 24.

The Ukrainian military has not confirmed such numbers, and it was a rare case for a Ukrainian official to provide such a tally.

Ukrainian soldiers drive a self-propelled howitzer in a front line in Donetsk region, Ukraine on November 30

The latest dates from late August, when the head of the armed forces said nearly 9,000 soldiers had been killed.

In June, as Russian forces fought for full control of the easternmost region of Luhansk, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was “losing 60 to 100 soldiers a day, killing and wounding around 500 people”.

Ursula von der Leyen, the chairwoman of the European Union’s Executive Committee, said on Wednesday that 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died before her office corrected her comments – calling it inaccurate, saying the figure included both dead and wounded.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s general staff said around 90,000 Russian soldiers had died in the war, far more than Moscow’s estimates.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s general staff said about 90,000 Russian soldiers had died in the war, far more than Moscow’s estimates. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on December 1

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in September that only 5,937 Russian soldiers had died in nearly seven months of fighting.

Both sides are suspected of keeping their losses to a minimum so as not to damage the morale of their troops.

Last month, gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said up to 40,000 Ukrainian civilians and “more than” 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the war so far. He added that it is “probably the same on the Ukrainian side”.

Those numbers – which could not be independently verified – are the US government’s most accurate to date.

The UN human rights office said in its latest weekly update, released on Monday, that it had recorded 6,655 civilian deaths and 10,368 injuries, but admitted that it included only those who confirmed it and likely greatly underestimated the true figure .

Ukraine has faced a heavy onslaught of Russian artillery fire and drone strikes since early October.

The shelling in southern Kherson has been particularly heavy since Russian troops withdrew and the southern city was recaptured by the Ukrainian army almost three weeks ago.

Local authorities said about two-thirds of the city of Kherson had power as of Thursday evening after new Russian attacks recently disrupted power.