"The 155th brigade already had to be restaffed three times. The first time after Irpin and Bucha; the second time they were defeated near Donetsk – they recovered again," Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi, a Ukrainian defense forces spokesman, told Politico. "And now almost the entire brigade has already been destroyed near Vuhledar."
The spike in Russian casualties comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin has conscripted hundreds of thousands of fresh troops into his military. The poorly trained recruits are now making their way to the battlefields of Ukraine.
FORMER PUTIN SPEECHWRITER, OTHERS ADDED TO RUSSIA'S 'FOREIGN AGENT' REGISTRY
Ukrainian artillery teams fire toward Russian troop positions in Bakhmut, Ukraine. (Madeleine Kelly/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Ukrainian forces reportedly exacting a heavy toll on Russian troops in recent weeks. (Reuters/Serhii Nuzhnenko)
Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops have taken heavy casualties in Ukraine. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin via Reuters)
News of Russia's losses comes a day after the U.S. Department of State ordered all U.S. citizens in Russia to leave immediately on Monday, warning of false arrests.
"U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately," the U.S. Embassy in Moscow warned. "Exercise increased caution due to the risk of wrongful detentions."
In a stark message the department also said, "Do not travel to Russia."
Fox News' Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.