Staggering Russian death toll from Ukraine invasion accidentally revealed
Russia may have inadvertently revealed the real death toll from its invasion of Ukraine, a figure more than 20 times its previous count.
Newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda said 9861 Russian soldiers have died in the invasion of Ukraine.
If accurate, it means four times as many Russians have died in Ukraine in three weeks as US military personnel in Afghanistan in 20 years.
Another 16,153 were injured in the fighting.
The Kremlin-linked newspaper has since deleted the figure without explanation.
The official death toll from the Russian Ministry of Defence is 498 troops, though it has been 20 days since that figure was updated.
That figure would make the invasion of Ukraine far bloodier than the ill-fated Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. In that years-long conflict, about 15,000 Soviets died.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said on March 13 that 1300 of its soldiers have been killed. The Russians claimed it was more than double that figure.
While it is difficult to determine accurate reports on the front line in Ukraine, it does appear Russia has made little progress in the past week.
Tenacious resistance and supply line issues have caused the Russian advance to stall.
And there have been reports of widespread desertions among the largely-conscript Russian forces.
Out of fuel and out of food, many Russian soldiers have left their tanks and trucks behind and walked away.
Ukraine claims five Russian generals have died in the conflict thus far.
While there is plenty of bad news for the Russian military, it does not mean good news for the Ukrainian people.
Cities like Kyiv and Mariupol remain under relentless bombing and shelling, with many buildings destroyed and thousands of civilians killed.
The damage wrought by bombing has created a nightmare defensive zone for the Russians to walk into.
Top US general David Petraeus said last week it takes a five-to-one ratio for an invading army to take a city.
If the Russian army makes it into Kyiv, the number of soldiers killed will likely skyrocket.
Shopping centre shattered in Russian bombing
