According to the Russian Ministry of Defence in Ukraine, 498 Russian soldiers have been killed and 1,597 have been wounded since the start of the military operation, Reuters reports quoting the Russian news agency RIA.

This is the first time that Moscow has released information about its casualties.

The Russian Defence Ministry also announced that more than 2,870 Ukrainian soldiers and ‘nationalists’ had been killed and about 3,700 wounded according to Interfax.

This number could not be verified and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.