A Russian newspaper claimed its website was hacked after it published casualty figures running into thousands, BBC reported.
The story on tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda’s website, citing a Russian Defence Ministry briefing, initially reported 9,861 Russian soldiers had been killed and 16,153 were wounded.
No other Russian media carried these figures.
The story was later removed, and the paper issued a statement saying that the “website admin interface was hacked and a fake was added to a publication”.
Russian casualty figures are contested. The last official figures from the Russian government claim that 498 soldiers have died.
But a BBC Russian investigation has identified 557 named Russian soldiers who have died during the conflict. That figure doesn’t include reports where casualties could not be identified.
The Ukrainian government claims more than 14,000 Russian soldiers have died, while a US intelligence report last week put the toll at more than 7,000, calling it a “conservative estimate.”
