Russia has lost around 15,000 troops since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, according to the UK Defence Secretary.
Ben Wallace told MPs in the Commons that Moscow has also thousands of armoured vehicles, tanks, helicopters and fighter jets in the conflict.
The huge death toll was evidence of how badly the war is going for Vladimir Putin, said Wallace, with a quarter of Russian fighting units now rendered not combat effective by the fierce resistance being put up by the Ukrainian forces.
In a statement to MPs, Wallace said: “It is our assessment that approximately 15,000 Russian personnel have been killed during their offensive.
“Alongside the death toll are the equipment losses and in total a number of sources suggest that to date over 2,000 armoured vehicles have been destroyed or captured.
“This includes at least 530 tanks, 530 armoured personnel carriers and 560 infantry fighting vehicles.”
In his opening statement to the Commons, Wallace also said Ukraine had been an inspiration.
He said: “At the start of this conflict Russia had committed over 120 battalion tactical groups, approximately 65% of its entire ground combat strength. As of now we assess around over 25% of these have been rendered not combat effective.”
“Ukraine is an inspiration to us all. Their brave people have never stopped fighting for their lands. They have endured indiscriminate bombardment, war crimes and overwhelming military aggression but they have stood firm, galvanised the international community and beaten back the army of Russia in the north and the north east.”
“We anticipate this next phase of the invasion will be an attempt by Russia to occupy further the Donbas and connect via Mariupol the Crimea so it’s urgent that we in the international community ensure Ukraine gets the aid and weapons it so much needs.”
Wallace described the performance of the Russian forces as “woeful”.
He added: “I don’t celebrate the loss of anyone’s life and when I see the huge casualty rates of Russian soldiers, as a former soldier I think it is a disgrace, a betrayal of those young men.”
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