Russian General's Leak of Elite Casualties 'Endorses' 50% Loss Figure: U.K.

"Apparently unsanctioned" comments from a senior Russian commander of Moscow's elite troops in Ukraine appear to show that around half of the Kremlin's paratroopers have been killed or wounded in the country, according to a new assessment from the U.K. government.

On Wednesday, General Colonel Mikhail Teplinsky, who heads up Russia's VDV, or airborne forces, said during a recorded speech that 8,500 paratroopers had been wounded in Moscow's war effort since February 2022.

Yet the video, in which Teplinsky said 5,000 wounded paratroopers had returned to the frontline and more than 3,500 injured fighters had never left, quickly disappeared from Russian government channels.

Russia's paratroopers are considered an elite force, but experts say many of Moscow's most experienced and capable soldiers were killed in the initial days of the war. Russia's VDV troops were heavily involved in some of the first operations of the almost 18 month-long war, but analysts previously told Newsweek they were deployed as regular infantry, rather than playing to their specialized strengths.

Extrapolating the figures offered up by Teplinsky "endorses the assessment that at least 50 per cent of the 30,000 paratroopers who deployed to Ukraine in 2022 have been killed or wounded," the British Defense Ministry said in an update on Sunday.

The remarks making it into the public domain also "overshadowed" Russia's annual celebrations for Russia's VDV Day on Wednesday, the U.K. government added.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Publishing figures up the end of July, Russian independent outlet Mediazona and the BBC's Russian service said that at least 1,842 paratroopers, including 322 officers, had been killed in Ukraine.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine offer up a running total of their own losses, and experts say both Kyiv and Moscow likely exaggerate the tally of the opposing side's casualty count.

According to an update from Ukraine's General Staff on Sunday, Russia has lost 249,700 troops since February 2022, including 590 soldiers in the previous 24 hours. Russia's Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Ukraine had lost 600 soldiers in the past day. Newsweek could not independently verify either figure.

Analysts suggest that Ukraine's figure of Russian casualties could be relatively accurate.

A leaked document from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency which circulated online in April 2023 suggested that Russia had suffered up to 223,000 total casualties, with up to 43,000 killed. The leaks also showed Ukraine had sustained between 124,000 and 131,000 total casualties, as of February.

In late August 2022, Ukraine's top soldier, General Valery Zaluzhny, said almost 9,000 Ukrainian fighters had been killed at that point.

The White House said in early May that Russia's military had likely suffered around 100,000 casualties since December, including 20,000 troops killed.

Back in February 2023, Britain's defense ministry said Russian forces and mercenaries had likely had 40,000-60,000 soldiers killed, with up to 200,000 total casualties since February 2022.