Ukraine group claims 9,000 Russians killed in Ukraine invasion

A Ukrainian group claims Russia has lost as many as 9,000 personnel in the first eight days of its invasion of Ukraine.

The figures estimated by the Ukrainian Centre for Defence Strategies, a Ukrainian think tank, far exceed those Russia has publicized. 

Moscow on Wednesday said 498 of its soldiers had died so far in the fighting. 

The think tank put Russia’s losses at more than 200 tanks, more than 800 armored combat vehicles, more than 30 helicopters and more than 30 aircraft.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 and has taken territory on several sides of the country, but particularly in the south, where it has seized the city of Kherson. 

Overnight, Russia also captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest such plant in Europe.

Ukrainians have fled the country amid the invasion, with the United Nations recording more than a million refugees, around 2 percent of the country’s population, going to neighboring countries.