Since the start of Russia's special military operation in February 2022, Ukraine has already lost about 500,000 of its troops, according to intelligence and analysis of open sources, Yan Gagin, advisor to the acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), said in an interview with Sputnik.
“If we talk about the losses of the Ukrainian armed forces... we can get information about these losses from the intelligence data we receive from our sources in Ukraine, and there are also public sources. For example, just a week ago... a Ukrainian mobile operator (MTS-Ukraine) posted a video online that about 400,000 recipients will never pick up the phone again,” Gagin said.
He also mentioned NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's recent statement.
“There was another moment when NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, at a meeting of the European Parliament, when asked if more than 500,000 military personnel died in Ukraine, did not answer anything, but said that they had not promised it would be easy. That is, he confirmed this figure with his silence. Therefore, the figure of about half a million Ukrainians who died during this conflict as military personnel, I think that it is close to the truth," Gagin noted.
Russia has been conducting a special military operation in Ukraine since February 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the operation aims to "protect people subjected to genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." According to the president, the ultimate goal of the operation is to liberate Donbas and create conditions that guarantee Russia's security.