 Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut suffer 7.9 times fewer casualties than Russians. Alexei Danilov, Secretary of the Ukrainian National Defense and Security Council, has stated that Russian losses in the battles for the city of Bakhmut over the past six months have amounted to almost 23,000 soldiers while Ukraine's losses are 7.5 times lower. Danilov said it in an interview with Italian news agency Corriere della Sera. Danilov was asked why Ukraine held Bakhmut. He replied that Ukrainian forces had to defend their cities as, without Ukrainian resistance, Russia would have won the war. Starting from the 1st of September when Moscow began using convicts as mercenaries in Bakhmut, 22,816 people from the Russian side have been killed. Our losses were 7.5 times lower. We have no right to abandon our cities, he said. The Wagner Group mercenaries and their prison recruits played the leading role in Russia's 10-month-long assault on the city. According to multiple accounts, Ukraine also took many losses in Bakhmut. Multiple soldiers fighting there described a brutal environment with a very high chance of death or injury.