Russia’s Ministry of Defense has finally released its claim of the first deep official military casualties from special operations in Ukraine.
Launched from Sputnik, Thursday (3/3), the institute said as many as 498 Russian soldiers died in carrying out President Vladimir Putin’s orders.
“Furthermore, 1,597 Russian servicemen suffered injuries of varying degrees during the operation,” the ministry added.
The defense ministry also claims that reports of “uncountable” losses among the Russian military are false and deliberately spread by pro-western media
Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said reports that Russia had used conscripts and cadets from military institutions in the operation were also false.
The spokesman also shared the latest information about victims in the opposing camp.
He put the death toll of Ukrainian soldiers and nationalist battalions at around 2,870 killed and 3,700 injured.
Russia’s Defense Ministry and President Vladimir Putin have previously spoken to the Ukrainian military repeatedly asking them to ignore orders from the Ukrainian government.
Konashenkov added that the nationalist battalion was preparing “provocations” and using the civilian population of Ukrainian cities as human shields.
The Russian Defense Ministry also reported on the development of the special operations, saying that Russian troops had captured the cities of Krasny Liman, Torskoye, Kremnenaya, Varvarovka and Borovenki.
The ministry also said that a humanitarian corridor had been created in the southwest of Kharkov.
Konashenkov added that the troops of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) had surrounded the city of Mariupol which was held by Kiev forces. Mariupol is on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov.
The Defense Ministry spokesman noted that the Russian military is conducting operations to defuse the threat of Ukraine acquiring nuclear weapons and having NATO military bases installed on its territory.