Over half of Russian soldiers who died during the invasion of Ukraine did not lose their lives due to being shot but rather due to improper first aid. Artem Katulin, the head of the training center for tactical medicine of the Kalashnikov Concern, dropped the shocking estimate during an interview on Russian media.
Nexta, a pro-Ukrainian media account that monitors the conflict, summed up the revelation by tweeting: “Russians kill Russians in the war more often than Ukrainians.”
On top of the staggering number, Mr Katulin added that over a third of the amputations carried out on soldiers were not due to their seriousness but instead due to the wrong use of tourniquets on the frontline.
He told Russian media: “More than 30 percent of amputations were due to incorrect tourniquet application, and more than 50 percent of all deaths were not from life-threatening injuries.”
Mr Katulin claimed that most fatalities could be traced back to poor levels of training in first aid and the ability to quickly deliver wounded soldiers to hospitals.
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Estimates on the total number of Russian casualties vary widely.
A report by Ukraine Today claimed that approximately 188,920 Russian soldiers have been killed so far in the Ukraine war.
However, according to leaked classified US military documents, the number of Russian soldiers killed in the Ukraine war until March this year could be between 35,000 and 43,000.
This comes as the war in the country looks set to heat up in the coming weeks.
Ukraine’s forces are concluding their preparations for a long-expected spring counteroffensive against Russian troops, according to the country’s defence minister.
Oleksii Reznikov told a briefing on Friday: “As soon as there is God’s will, the weather and a decision by commanders, we will do it. Globally speaking, we are to a high percentage ready.”
Kyiv has been preparing a counterattack for several months aimed at repelling Russian forces from the east and south.
Meanwhile, the Russian missile strikes last night took the lives of at least 21 people.
Two 10-year-old children were among those killed in the strikes on Uman, central Ukraine, which hit a nine-storey block of flats.
Russian missiles also hit a home in the central city of Dnipro.
The city’s mayor, Borys Filatov, said a young woman and a three-year-old child had been killed.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, condemned the latest barrage and vowed to respond to “Russian terror”.
