Russia has suffered 'significant' losses in the Ukraine war

Russia has suffered'significant' losses in the Ukraine war, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

As the invasion of Ukraine approaches its 44th day, Russia has acknowledged that "major casualties of troops" had occurred in the country.

Dmitry Peskov, the presidential spokesman, told the British news channel Sky News that the deaths were "a terrible sorrow for us."

He expressed optimism that Moscow would achieve its military objectives "in the next days."

Following Russia's expulsion from the United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday, Mr Peskov made the following remarks.

The diplomatic rebuke was approved by 93 out of 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly, following reports of widespread human rights abuses by Russian troops in the formerly seized town of Bucha in northern Ukraine, which had been under Russian occupation. In response, the Russian capital announced its departure from the council.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of committing new atrocities in Borodyanka, a town near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, after the body expressed "grave concern" over the ongoing human rights and humanitarian situation in the country.

'There are a lot of people who have been abandoned under the rubble,' says Borodyanka.

DONBAS: Why is Russia attempting to encircle Ukraine's eastern regions?

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Peskov refuted any suggestion that Russian troops were responsible for executions in the village of Bucha, telling a Russian television station that "we are living in days of fabrications and lies." He made the ludicrous assertion that photographs of residents being massacred in the town had been manufactured.

His admission that Russia has suffered a considerable number of casualties, on the other hand, is startling. On March 25, Russia's Ministry of Defense said that 1,351 of its servicemen had been killed in action during the conflict in Syria. The number of Russian deaths, according to Ukraine, is around 20,000.

No independent verification exists for either Russia or Ukraine's estimates of Russian losses. Analysts have expressed concern that Russia may be understating its mortality count while Ukraine may be embellishing it to boost morale. Russian soldiers are believed to have been killed between 7,000 and 15,000 times, according to Western leaders.

Mr Peskov, who has worked as the spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin since 2000, has also stated that Russia is looking for methods to bring the war to a conclusion.

"Our military is putting in their best effort to bring that operation to a close," he said. "And we do expect that in the coming days, in the foreseeable future, this operation will achieve its objectives or will be brought to a close through negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations."

Russia has withdrawn its soldiers from Kyiv and transferred the majority of its attention away from the capital to eastern Ukraine, but the violence shows no signs of abating.

In an appeal to Ukrainians residing in the east, Ukraine's deputy prime minister has asked them to evacuate while they still have the opportunity, and the intensity of the bombardment in the region is already impeding evacuation efforts.

Western nations put further sanctions on the Russian economy on Thursday in retribution for suspected war crimes in Ukraine. The measures will take effect immediately.

Russia's "most favoured nation" trade designation was removed by the United States Senate overwhelmingly, opening the door to additional taxes and import bans on products such as platinum, chemicals, iron and steel that would be harmful to the country.

A restriction on Russian coal imports, which are worth approximately $4 billion (£3.3 billion) a year to the Russian economy, was approved upon by the EU, which would be phased in gradually over the following 120 days.

Russia's Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, confessed before the country's parliament, the state Duma, that the cumulative effect of widespread sanctions has resulted in the country facing its worst economic outlook in decades.

"Without a question, the current situation in Russia may be described as the most challenging in the country's three-decade history," he said. Such restrictions were not utilized even during the darkest days of the Cold War, according to the report.

However, he asserted that the impact of Western sanctions had been minimal, telling MPs that the "financial system, which is the lifeblood of the entire economy, has held up." -

Following a precipitous decline to a historic low at the end of February, Russia's currency, the rouble, has recovered to levels seen before World War II.

In a new statement, Ukrainian President Viktor Zelensky stated that his country's military require "weapons that will give it the capabilities to triumph on the battlefield" and that this would be "the toughest possible sanction against Russia."