10,000 Russian deaths a reasonable estimate - Western official

10,000 Russian deaths a reasonable estimate 

The figure of 10,000 Russian soldiers killed during the war in Ukraine is a "reasonable estimate", a Western official has said.

Qazet.az reports that the number briefly appeared on a pro-Kremlin website, possibly after being hacked, before being quickly deleted.

The official said this number of losses could mean a further 30-40,000 Russian troops have been wounded or incapacitated in some way.

But they added that Russia still had "a lot of combat power" and could continue "to sustain a grinding attritional [drawn out] conflict for some time".

“The morale of Russian forces and their will to keep fighting in a situation where they are fighting in civilian areas, in a fellow Slavic country is something that we're watching really carefully. It is a conflict on a different scale.”

The most likely scenario is a continuation of the current position, rather than a significant change in which the Russians achieve their objectives or the Ukrainians are able to repel them, the official said.