Russia Walks Back Rare Casualty Admission After Attack on Crimea

Russian officials have retracted an initial report that a serviceman had died as a result of this morning's attack on the Russian Black Sea fleet headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea.

A statement confirming one death from the missile strike has been replaced, with the individual now said to be "missing in action."

Both Russia and Ukraine have been careful to reveal the bare minimum of information about war casualties on their respective sides, with Russia's last official estimate coming a year ago, in September 2022. Back then Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed 5937 service personnel had been killed in the war so far.

The Black Sea fleet headquarters building has previously been the target of suspected Ukrainian drone strikes, while another navy command post in Sevastopol was hit with a cruise missile on Wednesday.

The strikes followed last week's missile and drone bombardment of the dry dock facilities in the strategic Black Sea harbor, which are thought to have destroyed two Russian military vessels, including a Kilo-class submarine.

After the initial reports of the HQ coming under attack emerged, the Russian Defense Ministry issued as statement claiming that several missiles and drones had been destroyed over Crimea.

"An attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack with aircraft guided missiles and UAVs on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation was stopped," the ministry said in a statement posted to Telegram, which also claimed that five missiles were shot down by Russia's air defenses.

"One serviceman has been killed in the strike," said the statement, cited by the state media outlet RIA Novosti.

However, the ministry quickly issued a correction, stating that the soldier's current status is "missing in action," while at least six were injured in the strike. Another state news agency, TASS, also reported that a large number of ambulances had been spotted en route to the damaged building.

The walk-back was noticed by journalists from iStories, an independent Russian investigative news outlet.

Russia's reported high casualty rate in the war has led to calls for another wave of mobilization from some Moscow officials, after the initial effort saw 300,000 mobilized. The most recent assessment of Russian troop losses by Ukraine's military put the tally at 274,470.

Newsweek has not been able to independently verify Ukraine's figures. But earlier this week it was revealed that Russian authorities have ordered 230,000 certificates for family members of deceased veterans, offering an indirect insight into the scale of losses sustained by Moscow in the nearly 19 months of war.

According to a U.S. Department of Defense document that was leaked earlier this year, American officials estimated the number of killed in action as of February 2023 could reach 43,000 on the Russian side and around 17,500 on the Ukrainian side.

The rising death toll is forcing both countries to keep troops deployed for extended periods of time and ramp up the military draft. Last week a top Russian lawmaker admitted that his soldiers can expect to be required to stay on the front lines until the war ends.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment via email.