 The Russian military has lost over a hundred thousand soldiers to death or injury in Bakhmut over the last four months, according to new estimates from US officials. Since December, Bakhmut, a city in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, has seen some of the most intense military conflicts of the entire year long Russian invasion. Russian forces have reportedly been pouring massive amounts of military resources into prying the city away from Ukraine, which still maintains slim control of the area. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby provided a striking new estimate for how much Russia has lost during the battle for Bakhmut. Kirby said that Russian forces have incurred over 100,000 casualties since December, including around 20,000 deaths. He later clarified that these figures were strictly from Bakhmut, not the overall war in Ukraine. Of those dead fighters, a considerable amount was either Wagner Group mercenaries or convicts conscripted from prison. The numbers were based on newly declassified US intelligence reports, though Kirby did not elaborate on how the numbers were derived. John Kirby emphasized that Russia's attempt to attack Donbas through Bakhmut failed. The Russian Federation was unable to capture any real strategically important territory. He added that the Russian successes in the city of Bakhmut were achieved through a terrible cost and Ukraine's defense in this area remained strong. According to him, the number of casualties was three times the number of American casualties in the Guadalcanal campaign during World War II. Kirby added that most of the Wagner troops in Bakhmut were thrown into combat and without sufficient combat or combat training, combat leadership or any sense of organizational command and control. Despite these heavy losses, some experts have suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be deterred from continuing the conflict.