The Russian army has said 1,351 of its soldiers have been killed in four weeks invasion of Ukraine.
Another 3,825 of its soldiers had been wounded, the military said, adding that it had evacuated more than 400,000 civilians and condemning Western supplies of weapons to Kyiv.
Senior military officials, on Friday, gave the first update on Russian deaths at a press briefing in Moscow, Anadolu Agency reports.
A senior defence ministry official, Mikhail Mizintsev, said 419,736 civilians had been evacuated to Russia from the separatist eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as the rest of Ukraine.
Of these, more than 88,000 were children, he added, while 9,000 were foreigners.
“Russia will continue to open and provide humanitarian corridors in all directions,” Mizintsev said.
A senior representative of the General Staff, Sergei Rudskoi, said “The Ukrainian air force and air defense system have been “almost completely destroyed” and the country's navy ceased to exist.
All 16 Ukraine's military airfields, as well as 39 ammunition depots, where 70% of all military equipment were stored, were hit, he went on to say.
"The Ukrainian army has no organised reserves left,” he claimed, adding that people and units of territorial defense are being mobilised to fight Russian troops.
According to him, “6,595 mercenaries from 62 states” are fighting for the Ukrainian side.
Rudskoy claimed that the Russian armed forces destroyed 1,587 of 2,416 Ukrainian tanks and other armoured vehicles, 112 of 152 fighter jets, 75 of 149 helicopters, 148 of 180 S-300 and Buk M1 air defense systems, and 117 of 300 radars.
He warned that "the Russian military will immediately respond appropriately to attempts to close the airspace over Ukraine.”
He added that at least 14,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 16,000 wounded since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called for NATO to impose a no-fly zone over his country.
On February 24, Russian troops invaded Ukraine following a directive by President Vladimir Putin for what he described as a special military operation in the Donbas region.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in hundreds of casualties from both sides, leading to the displacement of many people in the country.
Amid the war, both countries have held negotiations that are yet to yield any major fruitful outcome.
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