NATO official estimates that 40,000 Russian troops have been captured, injured, or killed: report

Up to 40,000 Russian troops have been injured, captured, or killed in the first month of the war in Ukraine, according to a new estimate by NATO.

An anonymous NATO official spoke to media outlets and confirmed the number. The official said that between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian troops have died in the conflict.

The NATO estimate is in line with the US intelligence's estimate of Russian death toll.

A senior US official told reporters on a conference call that it is difficult to give casualty counts because the US does not have boots on the ground in Ukrainian territory.

I am not going to say what the ranges are that we are looking at because they are very broad and we have low confidence in those estimates because we are not on the ground.

The same official told reporters that the Russian forces are suffering from low morale.

The pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda reported last week that almost 10,000 Russian troops had been killed in the conflict. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, 9,861 Russian troops died and 16,153 were injured. The story was taken down.

The biggest military offensive in Europe since World War II happened when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. The last month has seen strong resistance from Ukraine, with reports of Russian tanks being destroyed and Russian troops suffering from frostbite because of inadequate gear. At least five Russian generals have been killed by Ukraine. Poor communications have exposed commanders and high-ranking military officers.