A Russian soldier claims that his regiment lost more than 1,000 soldiers in a 10-day period while fighting in Donetsk, according to video shared online by a Ukrainian official.
Flanked by two priests, Russian army volunteer supplier Verkiev Igor Gennadievich spoke in a Russian Orthodox church to solicit donations, according to the video, which was shared Tuesday on X by Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine's internal affairs ministry.
According to Gerashchenko's translation, Gennadievich said he spoke with the chief of the regiment who told him that the gloves he is bringing the troops "are being handed out instead of medals."
The volunteer supplier also said his regiment had suffered "heavy losses" in the fighting.
"I was absent there for 10 days," Gennadievich said, according to the Ukrainian official's translation. "[During this time], they had over 1,000 killed."
It's unclear which regiment Gennadievich belongs to; the church he was speaking in was also unidentified.
Citing Ukrainian data, the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence reported on Monday that Russia has suffered staggering losses this month, with an average of 931 per day.
Some of the highest Russian casualty rates of the war to date have likely come in the last six weeks, due to Moscow's brutal offensive against the Donbas town of Adviivka.
The UK ministry said that, although it could not independently verify the methodology, "taken as a total including both killed and wounded, the figures are plausible."
Previously, the deadliest reported month for Moscow was March, 2023, when an average of 776 soldiers were killed or wounded per day during the height of Russia's assault on Bakhmut.
During his appeal for donations, Gennadievich said he was trying to supplement the Russian Ministry of Defense's provisions.
"We are not competing with the Ministry of Defense; we simply add to whatever it doesn't have time to deliver," he said, per Gerashchenko's translation.
Russia has also suffered heavy losses as it tries to capture islands in the Dnipro River Delta amid continued complaints about weak capabilities in the region.
On Tuesday, prominent Russian military blogger Two Majors wrote on Telegram that the 1822nd Battalion is "small," but "the problems look serious."
"The wounded on the islands are generally a serious problem," the blogger wrote. "And sending the wounded back to the islands again looks criminal."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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