Up to 40,000 Russian soldiers killed, wounded, captured or MIA in Ukraine, NATO estimates

WASHINGTON – The NATO alliance estimates that up to 40,000 Russian troops have been killed, injured, captured or gone missing during the first month of the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, an alliance official confirmed to NBC News.

Of those, between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian troops have died, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to share the alliance’s latest intelligence assessment of the ongoing war.

Russian officials have previously declined to publicly disclose how many of its troops have died while fighting in Ukraine. On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that disclosing such figures is the “exclusive prerogative” of Russia’s Ministry of Defense.

“On the numbers, we agreed from the very beginning that we do not have the authority to voice them during the special military operation,” Peskov said, declining to elaborate further.

The Pentagon has previously denied confirming any reported estimates on the number of Russian troops that have been removed from battle.

Earlier this month, the U.S. intelligence community assessed that up to 4,000 Russian troops have been killed in the Kremlin’s then-two-week war in Ukraine.

That figure, which was shared during an unclassified March 8 hearing with lawmakers, was presented by Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

“With low confidence, somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000. That number comes from some intelligence sources but also open sources,” Berrier said during testimony before the House Intelligence Committee’s hearing on “Worldwide Threats.”

Earlier in the day, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would approve a “major increase” of its forces.

Stoltenberg said the alliance is likely to bolster troops along the alliance’s eastern flank, deploying four new battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

“I expect leaders will agree to strengthen NATO’s posture in all domains, with major increases in the eastern part of the alliance on land, in the air and at sea,” Stoltenberg said during a press conference ahead of the NATO leaders summit in Brussels.