The British Ministry of Defense announced on “X” (formerly Twitter) on Saturday that Russia’s daily losses in Ukraine had risen by about 300 fatalities last year in its war against Ukraine.
According to the ministry, if losses continue at the current rate, Russia is on track to “suffer over half a million casualties in Ukraine” by the end of the year.
In comparison, the ministry stated that the Soviet Union suffered 70,000 casualties in Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989.
However, the Russian Defense Ministry has claimed that Russian air defense units intercepted and destroyed Ukrainian guided missiles over the Crimean Peninsula on Saturday, according to Voice of America.
They also stated that air defense units had shot down unmanned aerial vehicles in a series of attacks on Friday over the Crimean Peninsula and the western part of the Black Sea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had pledged to target more locations within the Crimean Peninsula and Russian border regions this year, causing concerns among Russians as President Vladimir Putin seeks re-election in March.
Air raid sirens sounded in the city of Sevastopol, the largest city in the Crimean Peninsula, on Friday. Traffic on a bridge connecting the peninsula to the Krasnodar region in southern Russia has been disrupted for the second day. This bridge is a key route for Russian military supplies.
