Over 42,000 troops, 1,805 tanks: Ukraine estimates Russia’s combat losses

The Russian military has also lost 86 special equipment, 132 anti-aircraft warfare, 2,978 vehicles and fuel tanks, and 182 cruise missiles.

Even as Kyiv and Moscow are accusing each other of striking Europe's largest nuclear site, with the war between the two nations entering the 164th day on Sunday, the latest data released by Ukraine's armed forces shows as many as 42,200 Russian troops have been killed so far.

Local residents examine destroyed Russian tanks outside Kyiv.(AFP file)

The Kyiv Independent, citing Ukraine's armed forces, reported that Russia has lost 223 planes, 1,805 tanks, 191 helicopters since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The Russian military has also lost 86 special equipment, 132 anti-aircraft warfare, 2,978 vehicles and fuel tanks, and 182 cruise missiles.

The head of the UN’s atomic agency International Atomic Energy Agency warned of “potentially catastrophic consequences” in its first response to shelling on Friday around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Ukraine said Russia targeted the facility, calling it “an act of terror.” Moscow said Kyiv was behind the incident and that it would complain to the UN.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Friday, as Ankara pushes for a mediating role to try to help end the war in Ukraine following its breakthrough deal on grain exports. Erdogan said five Turkish banks have adopted Russia’s Mir payments system.

Russian troops have occupied the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine since the early days of their invasion and Kyiv has accused them of storing heavy weapons there. Moscow, in turn, has accused Ukrainian forces of targeting the plant.

"Three strikes were recorded on the site of the plant, near one of the power blocks where the nuclear reactor is located," Ukraine's state-run nuclear power plant operator Energoatom said in a statement.

"There are risks of hydrogen leakage and radioactive spraying. The fire danger is high," Energoatom said. It did not report any casualties.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in what Putin termed a "special military operation", the conflict has settled into a war of attrition fought largely in the east and south of Ukraine.

Moscow is trying to gain control of the largely Russian-speaking Donbas, comprised of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, where pro-Moscow separatists seized territory after the Kremlin annexed Crimea to the south in 2014.

(With inputs from agencies)