Russia has for the first time acknowledged taking heavy casualties in Ukraine as its forces bombarded frontline cities, laying waste to urban areas in one of the most destructive days of the week-old invasion.
After several days refusing to admit significant battlefield losses in the “special military operation”, Russia said that 498 of its troops had died in Ukraine, with a further 1,597 injured.
The admission came as the human and economic toll of the war became clearer, with civilian casualties rising fast in Ukraine and 874,000 people fleeing the country at a rate the UN said would make it Europe’s biggest refugee crisis this century.
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