The Armed Forces of Ukraine have irretrievably lost about 500,000 soldiers since the beginning of the special operation, Yan Gagin, adviser to acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic told RIA Novosti.
Gagin referred to intelligence data as well as analysis of open sources. In particular, the official cited a social advertisement of a Ukrainian mobile operator, which said that about 400,000 of its subscribers would never answer their phones again. However, there was no similar statistics from other mobile operators, and that video was deleted and forgotten.
The photo with the former commander of the Joint Group of Forces in the Special Military Operation zone was taken in Algeria, VChK-OGPU Telegram channel.
The general was photographed during a meeting with the military leadership of the republic, the authors of the channel said.
Gagin also recalled NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's reaction to the question about Ukraine's losses of more than 500,000 military personnel.
"He didn't answer, but said they didn't promise it would be easy. That is, he confirmed this figure with his silence,” Yan Gagin said.
The number of 500,000 soldiers does not include sanitary losses and those who weте missing, he added.
"Not only does Ukraine have a conscription resource crisis, the country is close to a demographic breakdown,” Gagin concluded.