America's top general estimated on Wednesday that Russia's military had suffered more than 100,000 soldiers killed and wounded in Ukraine, and added Kyiv's armed forces “probably” suffered a similar level of casualties in the war.
“You're looking at well over 100,000 Russian soldiers killed and wounded. Same thing probably on the Ukrainian side. A lot of human suffering,” Army General Mark Milley told the Economic Club of New York.
He added 40,000 Ukrainian civilians were also probably killed in the conflict since Russia's invasion began in February.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered his troops to withdraw from the West bank of the Dnipro River near the strategic southern Ukrainian city of Kherson in a significant setback for Moscow and potential turning point in the war.
Kherson city was the only regional capital Russia captured after its invasion in February, and it has been the focus of a Ukrainian counter-offensive.
The city controls both the only land route to the Crimea peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014, and the mouth of the Dnipro, the river that bisects Ukraine. Russian-installed officials have been evacuating tens of thousands of civilians in recent weeks.
Kherson region is one of four that President Vladimir Putin declared in September he was incorporating into Russia “forever”, and which Moscow said had been placed under its nuclear umbrella.
US President Joe Biden said Moscow's order to withdraw from Kherson was “evidence of the fact that they have some real problems with the Russian military.”
