The death toll – an incredible tally for a war that the Kremlin believed would be over within days – was published by a pro-government website, but quickly taken down.
There was speculation that it was uploaded by a pro-Ukrainian employee. Russia had previously admitted to 498 deaths – but that was on March 2.
The news came as satellite photos showed further evidence that Putin’s forces were going on the defensive and digging in ahead of a ‘long war’.
Last night’s figures said 9,861 soldiers had died in Ukraine, with 16,153 injured. About 15,000 Soviet troops died in Afghanistan after the 1979 invasion – but that was over ten years.
Ukraine has put the Russian dead at 15,000 – but the latest figures are higher than US estimate of 7,000.
The death toll was part of an update from Moscow’s defence ministry – and, while they were quickly removed from the website of Komsomolskaya Pravda, a pro-government tabloid, they remained on the archive last night.
Though the figures offer an insight into Ukraine’s military successes, there were signs last night that the war was turning Russia’s way.
A UK intelligence report – seen by the Daily Mail – said Moscow’s forces are making significant breakthroughs.
They have more effectively used drones to strike Ukrainian targets on the ground.
Russian forces have also destroyed a number of Turkish-made TB2 drones, which have proved highly effective against its troops and equipment.
Ukrainian ground-to-air defence systems may also have been destroyed, the report suggests, as increasing numbers of missiles have been finding their targets.
Russian rockets have struck a training base for foreign fighters – killing 35 and wounding 134 troops – an aircraft repair facility and underground silos storing Kyiv’s stockpile of Western weapons.
The report explains how Russia, after replenishing its artillery supplies, has ‘steadily increased its bombardment of various cities, particularly Mariupol, Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv’.
UK defence analysts have also expressed concern that Russia’s Kinzhal hypersonic missile can bypass anti-missile defence systems.
Analysts also questioned previous Western assessments that Ukrainian air defences remained effective.
The intelligence report says Russia intends its ‘total destruction’ of Mariupol to ‘serve as a warning to other cities’.
It said: ‘The pattern of destruction of food and water supplies, targeting of civilians, indiscriminate use of firepower to advance, is already being repeated elsewhere. This is based on effective lessons learned [by the Russians] in Syria.’
In another alarming assessment, Kyiv fears there is a ‘high likelihood’ of Belarus joining Russia’s invasion.
Its armoured forces are expected to head south, ‘likely towards Lviv’, in western Ukraine.
On a visit to London, Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said: ‘Several small cities have simply been wiped off the face of the earth.
‘Moscow is afraid of our army so they are fighting civilians.’
The Kremlin’s forces appeared to be digging in a strong defensive position around Kyiv as satellite imagery released on Friday appeared to show Russian mines planted northwest of the capital.
An American think-tank remarked that ‘Russian forces did not make any major advances on March 21’ and did not ‘conduct major offensive operations’, continuing to push on with ‘low-quality reserves’ and riddled with logistics issues.
On Sunday the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that Russiais preparing its people ‘for a long war’ as the ‘occupation forces have lost their offensive potential’.
The latest assessment of Putin’s offensive campaign from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on March 21 said Russian forces ‘continued to make slow but steady progress and shell civilian infrastructure in Mariupol’ and ‘did not conduct offensive operations in northeastern Ukraine and have been unable to solve logistics issues’.
It further added: ‘Russian forces did not conduct any offensive operations toward the northeastern Ukrainian cities of Chernihiv, Sumy, or Kharkiv in the last 24 hours.’
The report added that Putin’s forces deploy ‘low-quality reserves, including combat-support elements and low-readiness units from the Eastern Military District, to replace losses in frontline units’.
On Friday Denys Monastyrsky told The Associated Press that Ukraine will need Western assistance to cope with the massive task of defusing explosives once the war is over.
He said: ‘A huge number of shells and mines have been fired at Ukraine and a large part haven’t exploded, they remain under the rubble and pose a real threat.
‘It will take years, not months, to defuse them.’
Ukrainian troops have also have planted land mines at bridges, airports and other key infrastructure to prevent Russians from using them.
‘We won’t be able to remove the mines from all that territory, so I asked our international partners and colleagues from the European Union and the United States to prepare groups of experts to demine the areas of combat and facilities that came under shelling,’ Monastyrsky added.
According to The Times, a military source told the paper that planting mines was a part of Russia’s new ‘defensive posture’ and ‘indicates they are in it for the long haul’.
On Sunday Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces also said in a Facebook post: ‘The opponent continues to bear losses, has significant problems with the composition of units and parts of the personal composition, logistics.
‘At the same time, Russian propagandists started preparing the population of the Russian Federation for a long war.
Official communication channels are spreading propaganda about alleged success in conducting the so-called ‘special military operation’, public measures are being carried out to support the war in Ukraine.’