Ukraine claims 5,000 Russian soldiers killed in first four days of war

Ukraine on Monday claimed that
more than 5,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the first four days of
Russia’s Ukraine invasion, reported BBC.

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In a statement posted on
Facebook, the Ukrainian defence ministry claimed that approximately 5,300
Russian troops have been killed while 191 tanks, 29 fighter jets, 29
helicopters and 816 armoured personnel carriers have also been destroyed by
their armed forces.

The development came as a
Ukrainian delegation arrived at the border with Belarus for peace talks with
Russian representatives that will focus on breaking the war and the immediate
withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine.

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The Ukrainian delegation included
Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov and presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak
among others.

The BBC has added that it could
not independently verify claims of Russian losses, though the UK’s Ministry of
Defence believes Russia has taken “heavy” casualties in the opening
stages of the conflict.

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According to foreign media, the
Russian defence ministry, however, has acknowledged that its forces have
suffered losses, though they did not provide an exact figure.

“Russian servicemen are
showing courage and heroism while fulfilling combat tasks in the special
military operation,” Moscow’s army spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on
state television.

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“Unfortunately, there are
killed and injured among our comrades.”

UN confirmed deaths

Meanwhile, UN observers had confirmed at least 94 civilian deaths during the first days of fighting.

It said the invasion had
triggered “severe humanitarian consequences” and that casualties
could be considerably higher.

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This was the first time Moscow
had spoken about losing men in Ukraine since President Vladimir Putin launched
the invasion in the early hours of Thursday.

Konashenkov said the Russian army
would return Ukrainian prisoners of war “who surrender” to their
families.

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Fighting in Ukraine has claimed
dozens of civilian lives, forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes and
turned Russia into a global pariah.

On 24 February 2022, Russia
launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, one of its neighbours to the
southwest. Early reports declared it the largest conventional warfare operation
in Europe since World War II. It marks a major escalation between the countries
that had been in a state of conflict since 2014.