France estimates Russian military losses hit half a million

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates that around 150,000 Russian soldiers have died since the onset of the conflict with Ukraine, according to Stephane Sejourne, the head of French diplomacy. He stated that this figure, including the injured, brings Russian losses to half a million military personnel.

"The military defeat of Russia has already occurred," Sejourne declared in an interview published on Friday with the independent "Novaya Gazeta", referring to the Russian casualties.

"And for what? In two words: for nothing," he added.

The French government's estimates of Russian losses are lower than those of the Ukrainian authorities. In February, President Volodymyr Zelensky reported about 180,000 enemy fatalities. Meanwhile, the British government assessed in April that so far in Ukraine, approximately 450,000 Russians have died or been injured, as recalled by AFP.

In mid-April, the BBC reported, based on its own analysis, that Russia had suffered at least 50,000 military deaths. The BBC, along with volunteers and the independent media group Mediazona, gathers fragmented data on Russian casualties from media, blog posts, and social media. This group also monitors cemeteries.

The BBC states that in the conflict's second year, at least 27,300 aggressor soldiers died, though as the news site conceded, the actual number is likely much higher. Moscow, which has not released any casualty figures since September 2022, declined to comment on the findings reported by the BBC.

The estimated Ukrainian casualties also vary. At the end of February, President Zelensky reported about 31,000 Ukrainian deaths. "Not 300,000 or 150,000 as Putin and his circle of liars claim," he pointed out. However, several Western sources suggest that Ukraine's military losses are significantly underreported.

Simultaneously, as the Ukrainian president reported Kyiv's casualties, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed that 444,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died during the conflict. On Friday, he mentioned that since the start of the year alone, Kyiv has lost 111,000 people, but he did not clarify whether this figure referred only to those killed or also included the injured, as noted by AFP.