Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the Ukrainian National Defence and Security Council, has stated that Russian losses in the battles for the city of Bakhmut over the past six months have amounted to almost 23,000 soldiers, while Ukraine's losses are 7.5 times lower.
Source: Danilov in an interview with Italian news agency Corriere della Sera
Details: Danilov was asked why Ukraine held Bakhmut. The NSDC Secretary replied that the Ukrainian forces had to defend their cities as, without Ukrainian resistance, Russia would have won the war.
Quote: "Starting from 1 September, when Moscow began using convicts as mercenaries in Bakhmut, 22,816 people [from the Russian side – ed.] have been killed.
Our (Ukrainian) losses were 7.5 times lower.
We have no right to abandon our cities."
For reference: In total, from 1 September to June 2023, Russia lost over 160,000 of its soldiers.
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INITMalcanis on June 4th, 2023 at 11:57 UTC »
Considering the absolutely ghastly casualties they're claiming for the Russians, this is still a terrible number of losses for the UAF. At least they seem to give a semblance of a shit about their wounded, so one hopes that fewer of their casualties are fatalities.
RawSenior on June 4th, 2023 at 11:28 UTC »
Most reports that i have seen show 2.5 russians per 1 Ukrainian. But that's overall losses, not just in Bahkmut. 7.5 to 1 feels too good to be true, honestly.
VoloxReddit on June 4th, 2023 at 11:17 UTC »
I think we should always be careful of uncritically accepting the official numbers both warring parties put forward, as they have an interest in distorting them in their favor.
However, it's likely that Ukraine had a significant numerical advantage as far as causing losses is concerned, as indicated by the insistence of the Ukrainians on holding Bakhmut despite the onslaught of Russians and the deteriorating security situation around the city.