Pro-Kremlin tabloid reports that nearly 10,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine
- A tabloid said nearly 10,000 Russian troops had been killed in Ukraine — then removed the figure.
- The report cited the Russian Ministry of Defense, though it was unclear if the number was accurate.
A pro-Kremlin tabloid, Komsomolskaya Pravda, on Monday reported that almost 10,000 Russian troops had been killed in the war in Ukraine — before quickly deleting the numbers from the site. Komsomolskaya Pravda later released a statement claiming it was hacked.
Before the figures were removed, the tabloid cited the Russian Ministry of Defense as the source. The report said that 9,861 Russian troops had died and 16,153 had been injured since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the unprovoked invasion in late February.
These numbers are far higher than what had been reported by the Russian government, and it was unclear if they were accurate. Previously, Russia's Ministry of Defense reported that 498 Russian troops had been killed. And a recent US intelligence estimate placed the Russian death toll in Ukraine at roughly 7,000.
For perspective, there were 2,461 US soldiers killed in America's 20-year war in Afghanistan. Putin's war in Ukraine is roughly a month old.
The reported death toll was eventually scrubbed from the site, but some journalists took screenshots before the deletion of the paragraph featuring the staggering numbers. The original version of the article was also archived.
It was not immediately clear whether these numbers were genuine or how they ended up being published on a Kremlin-friendly tabloid.
The Kremlin and its allies have gone to extraordinary lengths to censor and punish criticism of the war and keep Russians in the dark about the situation on the ground in Ukraine. There have been reports of Russia secretly transporting dead and wounded troops out of Ukraine and into Belarus to try to keep the true death toll hidden.
The Russian military appears to have been met with stiffer resistance than expected in Ukraine. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday said the Russian military assault on Ukraine had "essentially stalled." He described Putin's strategy in Ukraine as "moving his forces into a wood chipper."
"The Ukrainians have continued to attrit his forces, and they've been very effective using the equipment that we provided them, and armor weapons and aircraft weapons. And again, significant resolve on the part of the Ukrainian people," he said.