The Russian military has not consistently provided its own data about casualties and hardware losses to compare or contrast with those from Ukraine. Each side would also have reason to present the other’s losses as significant.
Newsweek reached out to Russian officials via email for comment, and to the U.S. Department of Defense for an appraisal of Ukraine’s claimed numbers.
Aside from the losses of drones and artillery, the other hardware losses mentioned in the Ukrainian army’s report were less significant. The report added that Russian forces on Friday lost three tanks, seven armored combat vehicles, two MLR systems, one anti-aircraft system, 10 cruise missiles, 11 general vehicles or fuel tanks, and three unspecified units dubbed “special equipment.”
The report additionally claimed that the invading force suffered roughly 480 casualties on Friday, bringing the supposed total since the start of the invasion to around 206,200. Defense officials in the United States have estimated similar numbers, with a leaked February report putting the range from 189,500 to 223,000, of which 35,500 to 43,000 were soldiers killed in action.