• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Russian State Media Briefly Publishes Death Toll Numbers

Home> News

Updated 19:49 21 Mar 2022 GMTPublished 19:50 21 Mar 2022 GMT

Russian State Media Briefly Publishes Death Toll Numbers

The figures appear to have been published by accident before being swiftly removed.

Emily Brown

Emily Brown

A Pro-Kremlin publisher in Russia appeared to briefly publish the country's death toll number following its invasion of Ukraine before deleting the information from the site.

Russia has appeared reluctant to report the number of soldiers it has lost since Vladimir Putin sent troops across the border on 24 February, and in the near-month of fighting has only published figures once, on 2 March.

The country's defence ministry said at the time that 498 Russian servicemen had been killed in Ukraine, but more recent figures appear to have accidentally been shared by the tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda today, 21 March.

The figures were spotted by readers and shared on Twitter, with one reporter acknowledging the release of the information was 'huge if true', though noted it 'probably won't stay online long'.

Advert

Indeed, another Twitter user went to check the site again only a few seconds after seeing the figures for themselves and revealed the story was 'already deleted'.

The figures do not appear to be available on the site now, but an archived version appears to have captured the paragraphs as they were originally published.

It reads (translated): "According to the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, during the special operation in Ukraine, the Russian Armed Forces lost 9,861 people killed, 16,153 people were injured."

If the figures are accurate, they would fall in line with American intelligence estimates cited by The New York Times, which last week suggested 'more than 7,000' Russian troops had been killed at "the conservative side of the estimate".

Evelyn Farkas, the top Pentagon official for Russia and Ukraine during the Obama administration, told The Times that a large number of losses may offer an explanation as to why Russia has failed to take control of the capital city of Kyiv, saying: "Losses like this affect morale and unit cohesion, especially since these soldiers don’t understand why they’re fighting.

Advert

"Your overall situational awareness decreases. Someone’s got to drive, someone’s got to shoot."

As well as the deaths and injuries suffered by Russian forces, the archived Komsomolskaya Pravda site states Russian forces have lost "96 aircraft [and] 118 helicopters" since the start of the invasion.

Now that the paragraphs have been removed, the article on the site focuses on Russia's progress in Ukraine and cites Igor Konashenkov, of the country's Ministry of Defence, in saying that troops had hit '89 Ukrainian military facilities' as of Sunday, 20 March.

If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information 

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Russia, Ukraine, Politics, World News

Emily Brown
Emily Brown

Emily Brown is UNILAD Editorial Lead at LADbible Group. She first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route - before graduating with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University. Emily joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features. She went on to become Community Desk Lead, commissioning and writing human interest stories from across the globe, before moving to the role of Editorial Lead. Emily now works alongside the UNILAD Editor to ensure the page delivers accurate, interesting and high quality content.

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Ukrainian marine tortured by Russian 'Dr Evil' for two years unable to speak or laugh
  • World War 3 Has Begun, Russian State TV Says
  • Russian State Media Has Furious Reaction To Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Ukraine Invasion Video
  • North Korean soldiers 'hooked on porn' after being given internet access while fighting for Russia against Ukraine

Choose your content:

3 hours ago
4 hours ago
5 hours ago
  • 3 hours ago

    Woman who only ate beef for 8 years explains shocking physical and mental impact it had on her

    After 25 years of uncertainty around why she was experiencing severe autoimmune responses, Mikhaila Peterson tried 'the lion diet'

    News
  • 4 hours ago

    Forensic team digs for remains of nearly 800 babies at former ‘mother and baby home’

    It is believed the infants were dumped into a septic tank referred to as 'the pit'

    News
  • 4 hours ago

    Billionaire Sunjay Kapur, 53, dies suddenly as tragic final words revealed

    The 53-year-old billionaire collapsed suddenly while playing polo

    News
  • 5 hours ago

    US Air Force just dropped a chilling 246-character nuclear code broadcast and the reason is still unclear

    A 20-minute transmission that is typically used to broadcast emergency messages to military personnel has been intercepted

    News