The head of the US General Staff announced the loss of 100 thousand soldiers by Russia in Ukraine

Russia has lost more than 100,000 troops killed and wounded since the start of the war in Ukraine, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.

“We are talking about the number of killed and wounded Russian military at a level of much more than 100 thousand. Probably the same from the Ukrainian side. This is a huge scale of human suffering,” Milley said during a speech at the Economic Club of New York.

According to him, about 40 thousand Ukrainian civilians were also killed, and from 15 to 30 million became refugees. How he got these figures, Milli did not specify. The general stressed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “a huge strategic mistake” for which Russia will pay “for many years.”

A window for negotiations on a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv may arise after the stabilization of the front in winter. “When there is an opportunity to negotiate, when peace can be achieved, take advantage of it,” Milley said. However, if negotiations do not take place or fail, the US will continue to arm Ukraine. Although the Pentagon believes that a complete military victory for either side of the conflict looks less and less likely.

“There must be mutual recognition that a military victory, probably in the truest sense of the word, may not be achievable by military means, and therefore other means must be turned to,” Milley explained.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as of November 9, 77,000 Russian soldiers were killed during the war. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported the death of 5937 as of September 21. At the same time, the BBC Russian Service and Mediazona, together with a team of volunteers, confirmed the death toll of more than 6,200 Russian soldiers.

The Russian government spent 166.2 billion rubles on payments to the families of the dead participants in the “military operation”, which corresponds to almost 16 thousand dead, the We Can Explain telegram channel calculated in November. The families of the victims, according to the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, receive a payment in the amount of 12.4 million rubles, of which 9.4 million come from the Reserve Fund, and 3 million are paid by the Sogaz insurance company.