Ukraine and Russia have suffered ‘near 500,000’ war casualties

Latest casualties assessment is a large increase on the last public estimate, announced by US officials as they confirmed Kyiv to get long-awaited F-16 jets.

Ukraine hopes that a deployment of F-16 fighter jets will help its counteroffensive to make headway. Picture: PAP/The Times

Ukraine and Russia have together suffered nearly half a million casualties since the start of the invasion last year, US officials suggested as they confirmed that F-16 fighter jets could be sent to bolster Kyiv’s air force.

The US-made fighters will be transferred from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as Ukrainian pilots have completed their training in Europe, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, announced.

The jets, have long been on a wish list of Ukraine’s military but will not arrive in time to bolster Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which has taken a bloody toll on both sides.

Russia’s military casualties since February last year are approaching 300,000, The New York Times has reported, citing US officials. That figure including up to 120,000 deaths and 180,000 injured troops and compares with close to 70,000 killed and up to 120,000 wounded on the Ukrainian side, although the figures are not confirmed.

The latest assessments are a large increase on America’s last public estimate of casualties in November, when General Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said more than 100,000 troops on each side had been killed or wounded.

Heavy and attritional battles have been seen across the frontlines since then, particularly around the eastern city of Bakhmut, which was occupied by Russia after a long struggle in May.

President Zelenksy has meanwhile spent more than a year urging his supporters to provide fighter jets to supplement his country’s heavily outnumbered air force of Soviet-era aircraft.

A Dutch and Danish-led coalition of 11 European countries, including the UK and Poland, is expected to begin training the Ukrainian pilots this month, with about eight likely to attend an initial course at a Romanian airbase and another 20 to join them as soon as their English is sufficiently advanced.

While US officials have questioned whether the F-16s could play a decisive role in the war, their Ukrainian counterparts note that their air force is only a tenth the size of Russia’s and relies on antiquated technology.

The apparent hesitation from Washington prompted Denmark and the Netherlands to seek assurances that the US would allow them to hand the jets over as soon as the pilots were ready, which could be as early next year.

Blinken replied in writing on Friday “to express the United States’ full support for both the transfer of F-16 fighter aircraft to Ukraine and for the training of Ukrainian pilots by qualified F-16 instructors”. He said the approval would allow Ukraine to take “full advantage of its new capabilities as soon as the first set of pilots complete their training”.

The Dutch and Danish F-16s – between 24 and 36 fighters – could create up to three squadrons and the number could ultimately rise to 70.

Alexei Pushkov, a Russian politician, said the sending of F-16s to Ukraine was “significant from the political point of view” but “largely a symbolic step” that would not improve its fortunes at the front, where he claimed the counterattack was failing.

“The transfer of a few F-16s is intended to create an illusion of [good] military prospects for Ukraine and the western alliance. An illusion, and nothing more,” Pushkov said.

The Times