On March 20, 2023, a Russian-language Facebook account disseminated information about the loss of Ukrainian army personnel. According to the post, 60% of the Ukrainian military cannot return alive from the front line, and the loss is almost 200 thousand out of 800 thousand soldiers. The information was accompanied by a screenshot of the cover of the March 11 edition of The New York Times, which gave the impression that the source of the information indicated in the description is the NYT.
The mentioned information was also distributed in the Russian language on various forums (1, 2, 3).
The statistical data presented in the viral post cannot be found in any official source. In addition, the New York Times did not publish an article about the elimination of 60% of the Ukrainian military forces.
Notably, the New York Times is not directly mentioned as a source in the published information, although the text distributed on Facebook is accompanied by a screenshot of the publication, which creates the impression that the information was published by the media outlet.
The March 11 issue of the New York Times, which can be seen in the viral screenshot, featured two articles about Ukraine. The first one concerned the meeting between the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, where the main topic of discussion was effective resistance to Russia against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the issues of a potential trade agreement between the parties regarding raw materials for the production of electric cars. As for the second article, it was dedicated to the civil mourning of the soldier killed near Bakhmut, the national hero of Ukraine and the commander of the “Da Vinci Wolves” unit, Dmytro Kotsiubailo.
Neither articles mention any information about the losses of the Ukrainian armed forces nor any statistical information about the Russia-Ukraine war.
What are the actual losses in the war?
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian military had 200,000 active servicemen, 250,000 soldiers made up the country’s military reserve, and various paramilitary units had 50,000 soldiers. In addition, according to the statistical database of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Ukraine has 900,000 reservists with active military experience in the last 5 years.
As for the total resources of the Russian army, in addition to 830,900 military personnel, the Russian army accumulates 250,000 reservists and 250,000 soldiers serving in paramilitary units.
Source: Deutsche WelleDue to the high intensity of hostilities, the data on the military losses of Russia and Ukraine are constantly changing, and it is impossible to verify their accuracy during the course of the war. However, according to various sources, Russia has lost 200,000 troops in Ukraine.
According to UK intelligence, 175 thousand to 200 thousand Russian soldiers have been killed and wounded since the invasion of Ukraine. This figure includes 40,000 to 60,000 dead, both from the mercenary and regular armies. The estimate made by the US is almost identical – officials from the United States of America also talk about 200,000 dead and wounded Russian soldiers.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine constantly updates information on Russian military losses. As of March 26, 2023, the Ukrainian army was able to eliminate 170,550 Russian soldiers.
As for the losses of the Ukrainian military forces, based on various sources, we can assume that the Ukrainian army accounts for 100,000 dead and wounded so far. However, in December 2022, Ukrainian officials talked about the death of 13 thousand Ukrainian soldiers in the war.
About the Source
The Russian-language Facebook account Svetlana Kemerovo repeatedly spreads false information about the Russia-Ukraine war and acts in coordination with other accounts (1,2,3). In the past months, “Myth Detector” verified a number of false claims of anti-Ukrainian and anti-Western content disseminated by the user.
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