- Russia has likely seen up to 350,000 casualties since its invasion of Ukraine, the UK MOD said.
- But that figure is an estimate, and Russia probably doesn't even know the real figure, it said.
Russian officials likely don't know how many of their own soldiers have been killed or injured since the invasion of Ukraine because Russia's military has a history of dishonesty in reporting those figures, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
The UK MOD said in an intelligence update on Monday that Russia has likely seen up to 350,000 casualties since it launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
But it gave the number as an estimate, as there is no confirmed accurate measure for Russian losses.
Russia likely doesn't have an accurate count itself, the MOD said.
"Even amongst Russian officials there is likely a low level of understanding about total casualty figures because of a long-established culture of dishonest reporting within the military," it said.
The UK ministry broke down Russian casualties into likely numbers of injured and killed between the traditional military and soldiers with the Wagner Group, a mercenary force that played a key role earlier in the war and experienced huge losses.
Russia's traditional military has likely experienced between 180,000 and 240,000 personnel wounded and about 50,000 killed, the UK MOD said, while the Wagner Group has seen about 40,000 wounded and 20,000 killed, it added.
This would mean about 290,000 to 350,000 total casualties.
That is in line with other estimates: The head of NATO said last week that Russia has had more than 300,000 casualties, but warned that those losses don't mean it will stop its war efforts.
Ukraine said that, as of Monday, Russia has had more than 332,000 casualties in its invasion.
Ukraine also doesn't share figures for its losses.
US officials said in August that Ukraine's casualties are likely notably smaller than Russia's, with almost 70,000 Ukrainians killed and between 100,000 and 120,000 wounded at that time.
Ukraine has also suffered civilian casualties. The UN said at least 10,000 Ukrainian civilians, including more than 560 children, have been killed.
Russia has a much larger population than Ukraine, making it easier to replenish its troops after its losses.