Top Russian lawmaker makes ridiculous claim Russian troops aren't really dying in Ukraine amid reports of staggering losses

Russia has lost as many as 15,000 soldiers in the war in Ukraine. The death toll is staggering, particularly given the conflict started just a few months ago. According to a top Russian lawmaker, its soldiers have stopped dying in the war, even as the fighting rages on.

According to Moskovski, the head of Russia's rubber-stamp parliament's defense committee and a former Russian military officer, said on Wednesday that "we have practically ceased to lose people."

The outrageous claim, which echoes Kremlin talking points that have been contradicted by a number of other reports, reflects Moscow's efforts to hide the true scale of the Russian military's losses in Ukraine from the Russian public.

The latest official numbers from the Russian government show that 1,351 troops have been killed in Ukraine. Western intelligence agencies have put the Russian death toll at between 7,000 and 15,000. The Russian death toll was estimated by the official numbers to be as high as 30,000.

A recent report from the independent Russian website IStories that was based on an analysis of open source data found that over 3000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine. The Russian Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation published an investigation this week that found that 3,052 Russian troops have died since the war began. The true Russian death toll is likely much higher, but the deaths that could be confirmed based on available information were underscored by both reports.

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The propaganda machine of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been working overtime to keep Russians in the dark about how bad the war has been.

Beyond statements from government officials, Russian state news constantly claims that the conflict is going well and that Russian troops are fighting neo-Nazis.

Russia has failed to take the country's two biggest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, in its unprovoked war in Ukraine. The Russian military has made progress in the east, where it focused after its failed attempt to seize the Ukrainian capital, but overall, top analysts agree that the war has been disastrous for Russia thus far.