Russia taking hundreds of casualties daily in Ukraine war -U.S. official

As Russia continues its attack on Ukraine, Ukrainian service personnel prepare to fire from a M777 Howitzer in a front-line position. This is Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, 21 July, 2022.

The United States believes Russia is suffering hundreds of casualties per day in its war against Ukraine. With the loss of so far thousands of captains and lieutenants, its chain of command has been weakened, a senior US defense officer stated on Friday (22 July).

Nearly five years after President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Russia's neighboring country, the forces of that nation are pounding through eastern Ukraine's Donbas region and now occupy about a fifth.

According to CIA Director William Burns, the United States believes that Russian casualties in Ukraine are approximately 15,000 and possibly 45,000 respectively. He also stated that significant losses have been sustained by Ukraine.

An official spoke on condition of anonymity to say that, in addition to the deaths of lieutenants, captains, and hundreds of colonels, many Russian generals were also killed.

The official stated that "the chain of command was still struggling".

Russia considers military deaths state secrets, even during peacetime. It has not updated its official casualty statistics frequently during wartime. It reported 1,351 Russian soldiers were killed on March 25,

According to the Kyiv government, 100-200 Ukrainian soldiers were being killed each day in June.

According to a U.S. official, Ukraine also believed it had destroyed more than 100 Russian targets in Ukraine. These included command posts, ammunition depots, and air-defense stations.

Since the start of the war, $8.2bn has been provided by the United States in security assistance.

The Pentagon announced earlier this week that it would supply Ukraine with four high mobility artillery missile systems (HIMARS), as part of the latest weapons package.

The White House announced that the package would include $270 million in military assistance for Ukraine. This includes about $100m for Phoenix "ghost” drones. Although the drones were intended to strike targets, little else is known about them.

Russia claims it is conducting a "special operation," to demilitarize its neighbor, and get rid of dangerous nationalists.

Kyiv and West claim that Russia is launching an imperialist campaign against a pro-Western neighbour who broke away from Moscow's control in 1991.