Ukraine Claims Over 400,000 Soldiers Lost By Russia
Earlier this week the Ukrainian General Staff decided to publish the information regarding its losses and casualties inflicted after two years of the ongoing war in Ukraine. According to the data published on February 26, 410,000 Russian troops have been lost in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. In December, a declassified US intelligence report estimated that Russia had suffered around 315,000 casualties.
This data includes the most recent statistics regarding losses within the last day before the publication. Russian forces have been recently used in a long and exhausting campaign in Donbas, attempting to capture the town of Avdiivka, which eventually fell on the 17 February. The human-wave tactics and assaults on urban areas are costly. A Russian soldier and military blogger, Andrei Morozov, reportedly committed suicide after facing a criticism for Russian sources for revealing Russia’s heavy losses in Ukraine. Morozov revealed in posts pior to his death that Russian forces has suffered approximately 16,000 casualties and lost about 300 armored vehicles since October 2023, during the operation to take Avdiivka. Despite these heavy loss Russia has continued to demonstrate a capability to reinforce and assemble fresh units. Though their quality and equipment levels has been questioned.
On 25 February, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the two years of heavy fighting. According to officials cited by the New York Times, the real number may be higher by at least two times. The number of wounded Ukrainian soldiers is even greater, but contrary to the Russian Armed Forces, Ukrainians do not suffer from the lack of medical personnel and infrastructure and have much better medical evacuation abilities. Thus many can be saved from dying on the battlefield.
Heavy casualties on both sides should not be a mystery, as the intensity of the conflict is one of the highest since the war in Vietnam with the combined number of all killed, wounded, and missing slowly nearing 1,000,000 people.
The destruction and damage to state and private property cannot be even evaluated, with tonnes of munitions being expended each day across the country. Despite numerous international initiatives to demine and secure agricultural areas, unexploded ordnance is still a major threat. In January 2024 the United Nations reported over 30,000 cases of civilian casualties during the conflict. With the War in Ukraine passing the two years mark it is only possible to speculate as to how much longer the conflict will continue.