Pentagon documents reveal differences between Russian forces over the death toll

Documents stemming from the Pentagon have found that several disputes within Russian forces caused the Russian Defence Ministry to be charged with not reporting the exact number of war victims in Ukraine, publishing lower numbers.

Russia has failed to reveal much information about the death toll to the cause of war in Ukraine. But recently published documents show that the security service The FSB claimed officials were not counting the deaths of members of the Russian National Guard, Wagner mercenaries and several other forces.

Russia has claimed that data discovered by these documents could be false and deliberately published by the US.

However, details coincide with what was already assumed: that Russian military and security groups have had frequent disagreements about how war is being handled in Ukraine and that Russia has avoided publishing the number of dead and wounded.

The figure reported to nearly 110 thousand victims by February of this year has been reported to an estimated 189,500 to 223,000 casualties, with some 35.5,000 to 43,000 killed in the battlefield.

Russia's latest official figure dates back to September last year, when 5,937 military deaths were confirmed.

The same document says that reporting the lowest number of victims highlights the military's continued “reluctance to convey bad news to the chain of command.

In another document labeled as “Secret” is talked about a <x2-war information “between the Ministry of Defence and the chief of the Wagner merc group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, during February.

Prygozyn repeatedly accused the Russian Army of banning ammunition supplies while members of his group fought to win the battle in Bahmut, eastern Ukraine.

The classified documents -- the authenticity of which American officials have not verified -- are of a number of issues, such as Ukrainian Army positions, for international support for Ukraine and other sensitive issues, including in what circumstances Russian President Vladimir Putin may use nuclear weapons.

There is no clear answer to how many documents have come out in public. The Associated Press has seen approximately 50 documents, but some estimates say their total number could reach hundreds.

A Pentagon spokesman told reporters on April 10th that the flow of these documents poses “a very serious risk to national security”.