Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the Ukrainian army had already destroyed more than 1000 Russian tanks, close to 200 Russian aircraft, and nearly 2500 armored fighting vehicles.
Despite the losses, Russian troops have still the capability to launch further attacks, Zelensky said. The occupiers have weapons in stock. Yes, they have missiles ready to attack our territories,” he added. “But this conflict is already weakening Russia enough that they must plan (to be equipped with) even less military equipment to be used in the parade that will take place in Moscow.”
On May 9th, Russia plans to hold its annual Victory Day parade in Red Square in honor of the German surrender to the Soviet Union in the Second World War.
The Ukrainian President also stated that Russia has suffered losses of more than 23,000 troops since the war began. CNN can’t independently confirm the claim.
Russia has released sporadic numbers of casualties that aren’t that high and are considered by many as a huge underestimation. Two days before Russia’s update, two top NATO army officials estimated that the total number of Russian soldiers killed within Ukraine as ranging from 75,000 to 15,000. At a similar timeframe, other US government officials had estimated Russian losses within a similar range of between 77,000 and 14,000 Russian soldiers killed but they had stated: “low confidence” in those figures.
In the last month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov briefly acknowledged Russia has suffered “significant” losses in the troops it deployed to Ukraine and called the loss “an enormous tragedy” for the country during an interview on Sky News.