The United States estimates Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties in Bakhmut since December, including more than 20,000 killed in action, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on a call with reporters Monday.
Roughly half of those killed were working with the Wagner mercenary group, Kirby said, often ex-convicts who had been recruited from prison. The figure is based on “some information and intelligence that we were able to corroborate over a period of some time,” Kirby said. He declined to discuss Ukrainian casualties. “That’s up to them to speak to,” he said.
