100,000 Russian troops killed or injured in Ukraine, US says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia’s introduced retreat from Kherson, a regional capital in southern Ukraine that it seized early within the conflict, and a possible stalemate in combating over the winter might present each nations a possibility to barter peace, Military Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees, mentioned Wednesday.

He mentioned as many as 40,000 Ukrainian civilians and “nicely over” 100,000 Russian troopers have been killed or wounded within the conflict, now in its ninth month. “Identical factor most likely on the Ukrainian aspect,” Milley added.

“There was an incredible quantity of struggling, human struggling,” he mentioned at The Financial Membership of New York.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Tuesday he was open to peace talks with Russia to finish the conflict however solely on the situation that Russia return all of Ukraine’s occupied lands, present compensation for conflict injury and face prosecution for conflict crimes.

Russia has mentioned it’s open to talks, and this week introduced it had begun a retreat from Kherson.

Zelenskyy has warned that the Russians are feigning a pullout from Kherson to lure the Ukrainian military into an entrenched battle within the strategic industrial port metropolis, a gateway to the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.

Milley, the highest-ranking U.S. army officer, mentioned Russia had amassed 20,000 to 30,000 troops in Kherson and a full retreat might take a number of weeks.

“The preliminary indicators are they’re the truth is doing it. They made the general public announcement they’re doing it. I consider they’re doing it to be able to protect their pressure to reestablish defensive traces south of the (Dnieper) river, however that continues to be to be seen” he mentioned.

Milley mentioned it’s potential the Russians will use the retreat to reset their troops for a spring offensive, however “there’s additionally a possibility right here, a window of alternative for negotiation.”

However for negotiations to have an opportunity, each Russia and Ukraine must attain a “mutual recognition” {that a} army victory “is possibly not achievable by means of army means, and due to this fact you could flip to different means,” Milley mentioned, citing the tip of World Battle I for instance.