- More Russian soldiers have died fighting in Ukraine than in all of Russia's wars since World War II combined.
- Both sides are fighting "a war of attrition," the Center for Strategic & International Studies said.
More Russian soldiers have died in combat in Ukraine than in all of its wars since World War II combined, a new analysis has revealed.
According to a brief from the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), between 60,000 and 70,000 Russian soldiers have been killed on the battlefield in Ukraine. Moscow's troops are dying each month at a rate "at least 25 times the number killed per month in Chechnya and 35 times the number killed in Afghanistan," the analysis said, citing two particularly deadly wars for Russia and its predecessor, the Soviet Union, respectively.
This lower figure of 60,000 is still greater than all the Russian soldiers that were killed in wars since World War II, during which 8.7 million Soviet Union soldiers died, although exact figures are still debated by historians. As many as 50,000 Russian soldiers were killed in the 16 later wars included in the analysis, which stretches from 1950 until present day and includes wars in places like Korea, Georgia, Syria, and Angola.
The CSIS analysis said the high casualties are the result of Ukrainian "military innovation," as well as moves like Ukraine's defense of Kyiv in the spring of 2022 and counteroffensive action in the territory around Kharkiv in the northeast late last year.
Earlier this month, Britain's defense ministry shared in an intelligence update that Russian forces had "likely" suffered between 175,000 and 200,000 casualties since the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It added that between 40,000 and 60,000 soldiers have likely been killed.
A top US diplomat echoed this estimate and said in mid-February that over 200,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded on the battlefield.
The casualty rate reportedly skyrocketed after Russian President Vladimir Putin imposed a partial military mobilization of Russian reservists in September 2022, Britain's defense ministry noted. Insider previously reported that as many as 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in combat as of December 2022.
Despite high losses, both sides are now fighting "a war of attrition" to wear each other down, chip away at defenses, and replenish resources as quickly as possible, according to the CSIS analysis. Although neither side has gained much territory since late 2022, "casualty rates have increased."
Military experts have said that the campaign is at a pivotal moment, as Ukraine must absorb Russian advances for long enough to see the forthcoming delivery of advanced Western armor and weaponry.
The CSIS update on the war's casualty figures comes just days after the first anniversary of Russia's invasion. When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February 2022, Putin originally believed he could capture Kyiv in a matter of days. But Russian generals seriously overestimated Russia's military and underestimated Ukrainian forces, resulting in poor strategy, command failures, and completely mismanaged logistics.
Ukraine, although originally mismatched in terms of military power and resources, was able to resist Russia's initial advances toward the capital and force Russian troops to withdraw from the Kyiv area and ultimately shift focus to Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.