Ukraine war update, March 23: Fog of war hides extent of military casualties on both sides

Neither side has officially acknowledged its own battlefield casualty numbers so far, and it could be months before the military casualties in Russia and Ukraine become known.

Dead bodies are placed into a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. People cannot bury their dead because of the heavy shelling by Russian forces. (AP/PTI Photo)

Today, March 23, is Day 29 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Here’s what you need to know today:

At least 953 civilians have died in the war until midnight March 21, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Among the dead are 76 children. The UN agency says the actual number of casualties is likely to be higher as real time reporting and verification of the toll is difficult in the areas that are seeing the most fighting. The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office has said at least 117 children have died and 115 injured. OHCHR says at least 1,557 civilians were wounded.

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As yet, the fog of war has hidden the extent of military casualties on both sides. On Tuesday, a pro-Kremlin Russian paper Komsomolskaya Pravda hastily removed from its site a report that said 9,861 Russian troops have been killed and 16,153 injured since February 24, when President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion. There have been reports of Ukrainian defence forces exchanging bodies of dead Russian soldiers for captured Ukrainian soldiers. Russia has claimed Ukraine’s own casualties run into thousands. Neither side has officially acknowledged its own battlefield casualty numbers so far.

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For me, the claims bring back memories of another war, closer home. In Sri Lanka of the 1990s, as the war raged, the security forces and the LTTE would make impossible to verify claims about each other’s casualties. It was from ambulance sirens after a big battle that the extent of losses could be gauged. The army’s casualties, airlifted to a military airbase in a suburb of the capital, would be raced by ambulances, siren wailing, to the military hospital in the heart of the capital. Some days and nights, those sirens would be unending. A sudden increase in the funeral notices in the newspapers, busy flower shops and vehicles outside funeral parlours and cemeteries partially lifted the veil of secrecy that the government threw over its losses. Tamil Tiger casualties were also never fully revealed immediately and could be gleaned only by word of mouth through the Tamil community.

It could be months before the military casualties in Russia and Ukraine become known.

Two must reads in today’s edition of The Indian Express, the mayor of Warsaw tells special correspondent Krishn Kaushik about how the city’s infrastructure is overwhelmed by refugees fleeing from Ukraine. Poland has received over 2 million displaced Ukrainians.

We are at capacity, can’t accept another wave of refugees, says Warsaw Mayor

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And US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland tells Shubhajit Roy that Russia’s poor performing weaponry in Ukraine should tell India that its dependence on Moscow for defence supplies is not a good idea, and that the US is ready to help Delhi with military supplies.