General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, was quoted by the BBC as claiming that around 100,000 Russian and 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or injured in the Ukraine conflict thus far.

Milley, the most senior military adviser to US President Joe Biden, said that around 40,000 people were killed as a result of Russia's war in Ukraine.

More than 100,000 Russian servicemen have been killed or wounded, he told the BBC. "Probably the same on the Ukrainian side."

According to the most recent report from Moscow in September, 5,937 soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the conflict. Sergei Shoigu, the Russian minister of defense, denied claims claiming a much higher purchase cost.

Milley continued, "There has been a tremendous amount of human misery."

He estimates that between 15 and 30 million refugees have been created since Russia's "special military operation" on February 24 to invade Ukraine.

However, the general stated that he has witnessed indications that Kyiv may be inclined to resume negotiations with Moscow.

The Washington Post reported earlier this week, citing unnamed sources, that the United States had quietly encouraged Ukraine to demonstrate a willingness to dialogue with Russia.

On October 4, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a proclamation proclaiming "impossible" any Ukrainian negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while leaving the door open for talks with Russia.

The Post reported that US and Ukrainian officials recognized that Zelenskyy's embargo on talks with Putin had caused worry in sections of Europe, Africa, and Latin America, where the war's consequences on food and fuel prices are felt the greatest.

To enable any success in Russia-Ukraine talks, the senior US general stated in New York that both sides must "mutually recognize" that a military victory is "perhaps not feasible through military means, and you must then move to other ways"