Russia's death toll in Ukraine could be as high as 60,000. Western intel says its forces are being ripped apart by artillery and not getting proper care.

• Britain's defense ministry said Russian casualties in Ukraine could be as high as 200,000.
• It shared in an intelligence update that as many as 60,000 of Putin's troops may have been killed.
• They are being torn apart by artillery and not getting proper care, it added.

As many as 60,000 Russian troops may have been killed in Ukraine since the war began nearly a year ago, Western intelligence has revealed.  

Britain's defense ministry shared in a Friday intelligence update that Russian forces have likely suffered between 175,000 and 200,000 causalities on the battlefield.

It added that the rate of this carnage has "significantly increased" since late-September 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the partial military mobilization and drafted hundreds of thousands of reservists to be sent into Ukraine. Many of these freshly mobilized troops were sent to Ukraine with poorly equipped and with limited training.

Britain's defense ministry said that between 40,000 and 60,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the fighting. The ministry noted that the death toll represents "a high ratio of personnel killed compared to those wounded" by the standards of modern warfare. 

"This is almost certainly due to extremely rudimentary medical provision across much of the force," the UK defense ministry wrote, citing artillery as the main culprit for the majority of Russia's casualties. Ukrainian forces have relied on Soviet-era and Western-made artillery pieces to keep Putin's troops at bay, and they has been firing these systems at unprecedented rates and pushing them to the limits. 

One key artillery system has been US-provided howitzers, which are long-range weapons that can fire shells at Russian positions from miles away. The Pentagon has sent Kyiv more than 230 individual howitzers — 155 mm and 105 mm systems — with well over 1.3 million accompanying artillery rounds. 

Britain's defense ministry said the Russian casualty figures included both Russia's regular military and also private military contractors like the notorious Wagner Group. This Kremlin-linked mercenary organization has been heavily involved in operations around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, where intense fighting has raged for months.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in late December that Wagner's presence in Ukraine is made up of around 10,000 contractors and 40,000 convicts — recruited by the organization from Russian prisons. The UK said these prisoners, who have often been sent to the front lines to absorb Ukrainian fire like sponges, likely have a casualty rate of up to 50 percent.  

The 200,000 casualty toll offered by Britain's defense ministry echos a similar estimate provided by a top US diplomat earlier this week. Victoria Nuland, the under secretary of state for political affairs, said during a Thursday briefing that more than 200,000 Russians have been killed or wounded on the battlefield. 

"They have in some categories lost more than half of their military equipment in this war, and more than a million of the brightest and best Russians have left the country," she said. "So what is this war bringing the average Russian? Nothing."

These estimates from Britain and the US also provide a more precise and updated figure than one offered by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley last month. Milley said in mid-January that Russia has seen "significantly well over 100,000" casualties, adding that Ukraine has also "suffered tremendously."