Russia is losing 5,000 to 6,000 troops per week in the war in Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said. He stated that US President Donald Trump wants young Russians not to be killed at that rate on the battlefield.
Mr Rubio said the US is prepared to play a constructive role to bring about an end to "a senseless war". He said the same message was conveyed to Russia during a meeting in Manila with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Thursday (July 23). However, he admitted there is no quick path to a deal, saying diplomacy would require a sustained effort and fresh ideas.
Casualty figures and diplomatic efforts
Russia and Ukraine rarely publish official figures for their own troop losses. A July estimate from the US Centre for Strategic and International Studies said the Russian military has suffered 1.4 million casualties on the battlefield and some 450,000 deaths since the full-scale invasion was launched in February 2022.
Britain's GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler said in May that almost 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the war erupted. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said in February that Ukraine has lost 55,000 soldiers since 2022.
Mr Rubio met Mr Lavrov and several other leaders, including China's foreign minister, on the sidelines of an annual gathering by foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Russia's top diplomat reiterated the Kremlin's readiness for "a political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict" and recalled a commitment to agreements reached at a summit between Putin and Mr Trump in Alaska last year.
US support and Ukraine's political crisis
The United States' top diplomat said there has been no change to Washington's military support for Ukraine, with weapons purchased by NATO allies transferred to the war-ravaged country. Mr Zelensky said separately that his priority is finding a way back to negotiations.
US efforts to broker an end to the bloody war have been overshadowed by the outbreak of the Iran war earlier this year. Renewed strikes by Washington and Tehran have been intensifying after an interim ceasefire deal collapsed.
Meanwhile, a political crisis in Ukraine escalated when the ousted Ukrainian defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, refused a job offer from Mr Zelensky. The decision to fire Mr Fedorov triggered days of public protest, which quickly shifted toward the country's Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi. Mr Zelensky dismissed Mr Syrskyi and replaced him with Mykhailo Drapatyi, which has helped to ease some of the Ukrainian public's concerns. Mr Fedorov was reportedly offered a number of roles by Ukraine's leader, but he insisted only positions as president, military chief and defence minister would shape the course of the war, The Independent reports.
