US conservatively estimated 7,000 killed. They used the word “conservatively”. That was a few days ago.
9,861 seems very plausible. Probably higher.
So Komsomolskaya Pravda is a pro-Kremlin tabloid
“Komsomolskaya Pravda, the pro-Kremlin tabloid, says that according to Russian ministry of defense numbers, 9,861 Russian soldiers died in Ukraine and 16,153 were injured. The last official Russian KIA figure, on March 2, was 498. Fascinating that someone posted the leaked number.”
https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1505972650786672648