- Russia says nearly 500 soldiers have died in the invasion. Ukraine says the number is closer to 6,000.
- This is the first time Russia has released casualty figures for the ongoing conflict.
- A senior US defense official warned that people should be "extremely skeptical" of Russia's numbers.
Russia said on Wednesday that nearly 500 of its troops have died in battle so far, but Ukraine said this number is significantly higher.
Russia's defense ministry said 498 Russian soldiers had died in Ukraine and another 1,597 were wounded, according to Russia's RIA news agency. The Russians claimed that the number of war dead for the Ukrainian forces was 2,870, with the number of wounded nearing 4,000.
A senior US defense official told reporters Wednesday that people should be "extremely skeptical" of Russia's casualty figures, Reuters' Idrees Ali reported.
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video Wednesday morning that almost 6,000 Russian troops have been killed in the first six days of the war, which began last Thursday when Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"Russian mothers are losing their children in a completely foreign country," Zelensky said. "Think of this number: almost 6,000 Russians died, Russian military, in six days of war."
The Russian defense ministry's statement on Wednesday is the first time Russia has released casualty figures for the conflict, although Moscow acknowledged that there were casualties in Ukraine on Sunday without specifying exact numbers, The Moscow Times reported.
"Russian servicemen are showing courage and heroism while fulfilling combat tasks in the special military operation," Moscow's army spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on state television. "Unfortunately, there are killed and injured among our comrades."
Prior to that announcement, Russia had only acknowledged losses of military equipment, and last Friday, Konashenkov said there had been no Russian casualties, CNN reported. The Ukrainian side said at that point that "hundreds" of Russian soldiers had been killed.
The actual casualty count is unclear, but there has been intense fighting across Ukraine, with Ukrainian positions and cities taking significant fire from Russian forces while the Russians continue to encounter stiff resistance from the Ukrainians forces.