More than half of Russian soldiers who have received medical attention after being wounded in the war in Ukraine required amputations, according to Russian Deputy Labor Minister Alexei Vovchenko.
Vovchenko's comments were made Tuesday during a roundtable discussion with Russian senators, as reported by the government's daily newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta. He did not provide an exact number of Russian soldiers who have suffered injuries severe enough to require medical attention but said that about 54 percent of such injuries are "recognized as disabled with amputation of a limb."
"This is really such a glaring problem. It's a lot," Vovchenko continued. "Among civilian disabled people, we don't have such a percentage with amputation."
Roughly 80 percent of medical examinations that lead to amputations take place in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Vovchenko said at the meeting. He also said 84 percent of soldiers who pass medical and social examinations are recommended for "technical means of rehabilitation."
"These are not only prosthetics. These are wheelchairs of various types. These are also special clothing, orthopedic shoes," Vovchenko said. "All the necessary kit that is required for an individual rehabilitation and habilitation program. These appointments are already underway."
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense by email for comment.
Moscow has not publicly disclosed an up-to-date number of its troops injured in the war. In August, U.S. officials gave an estimate of between 170,000 and 180,000 injuries, according to The New York Times. In the same report, Western officials also estimated that up to 120,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in Ukraine.
Earlier this week, the Russian independent news outlet Mozhem Obyasnit reported that Moscow's proposed budget for 2024 may provide insight into the number of soldiers killed so far in the war. Mozhem Obyasnit's analysis of the budget plan said the Kremlin has allocated funding to 102,700 military families whose relatives have been killed.
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly offered a much higher estimate of Russia's casualties. On Monday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Facebook that Moscow has lost 288,000 troops since launching its invasion in February 2022.
The nearly 20-month-long war has meant substantial troop losses for Ukraine as well. U.S. officials said in August there have been close to 70,000 deaths since the start of the conflict.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during an interview with Chinese media that since Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in early June, it has seen "no results, there are only huge losses."
"The losses are simply huge—approximately 1 to 8 as a ratio," Putin said, comparing Ukraine's purported losses to Russia's.
