Ukraine has lost more troops during the Russian invasion than there are infantry in the British army, defense expert says

• More Ukrainian troops have been killed or seriously injured than there are in the British infantry, a defense expert said.
• Jack Watling announced the statistic at the RUSI Land Warfare Conference Tuesday in London.

Ukraine's military has suffered more casualties in the four months since Russia's invasion than there are infantry troops the British Army all together, a defense expert said.

There were 18,000 infantry in the British Army in 2021, according to the UK Defence Journal.

Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), came to the startling conclusion during a speech at the RUSI Land Warfare Conference Tuesday, according to reporters and attendees at the conference.

The full scale of Russian and Ukrainian casualties have been difficult to assess. Russian officials have only confirmed 1,300 deaths, far below what even independent researchers have established based on funeral announcements; NATO reportedly estimated as many as 40,000 Russian casualties in the first month of war.

Ukraine has not released reliable figures for its casualties, but officials have made clear that the war in Ukraine's east is growing deadly for its forces as Russian artillery barrages have forced the Ukrainians to give up ground.

David Arakhamia, one of Ukraine's top officials, told Axios earlier this month up to 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers were being killed or wounded each day in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

On Monday, a pair of Russian missiles struck a Ukrainian shopping mall with more than 1,000 civilians inside, killing at least 18 people.