UK Defense Ministry: Russia, Ukraine likely experience 'high casualties' during Kyiv's counteroffensive

Russian losses in the south are likely the highest since the peak days of the Battle for Bakhmut in March, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on June 18.

The ministry said that both sides experience “high casualties” in the south, where Russian forces “often conduct relatively effective defensive operations" during Ukraine's counteroffensive.

Ukraine’s forces continue their offensive operations and have made small advances in all directions, according to the report.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported some 1,000 Russian losses in one day, when the most fierce fittings in Bakhmut took place.

The British Defense Ministry estimated in mid-March that over 800 Russian personnel were killed or wounded for each kilometer gained in Bakhmut. The vast majority of them were the Wagner Group mercenaries.

The Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigizhin claimed in late May that his mercenary outfit lost over 20,000 troops, including around 10,000 recruited convicts, during the Battle for Bakhmut.

After almost a year of Russia's assault on the once-flourishing city in Donetsk Oblast, Bakhmut was effectively occupied by Russian troops.

Army of hired guns: How Russia’s ‘PMCs’ are becoming the main invasion force

Private armies are illegal in Russia, so naturally, Moscow has been using them for decades. Now, it’s making them the main invasion force. The rate at which Russia creates new private military company-like units sped up after 2014 but it really took off during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine,

The Kyiv IndependentIgor Kossov