Russia has lost as many men in Ukraine as it did in Afghanistan
Russia ‘has lost as many men in its three-month Ukrainian invasion as it did during entire NINE-YEAR war in Afghanistan due to poor tactics and leadership’
- Poor tactics, limited air cover, a lack of flexibility, and commanders repeating mistakes has led to high Russian casualties, said the UK Defence Ministry
- Public dissatisfaction with the war within Russia is likely to increase, it added
- Experts say the Russian offensive could grid to a halt around the middle of June
Russian losses in Ukraine over the first three months are likely to have already surpassed those of the Soviet-Afghan war which lasted nine years, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.
The Soviet Union’s losses are estimated to be around 15,000 killed in the Afghan war, with an additional 35,478 wounded and 311 missing.
‘The Russian public has, in the past, proven sensitive to casualties suffered during wars of choice,’ said the UK government ministry, which did not name the exact figure.
‘As casualties suffered in Ukraine continue to rise they will become more apparent, and public dissatisfaction with the war and a willingness to voice it may grow.’
Poor tactics, limited air cover, a lack of flexibility, and a command approach reinforcing failure and repeating mistakes has led to the high casualty rate, said the ministry.
The UK’s Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace previously estimated that approximately a quarter of Russia’s battalion tactical groups were ‘not combat effective.’
Russian troops are steadily advancing across Ukraine’s eastern Donbas (pictured in Mariupol), but are suffering ‘huge’ losses in the process which will leave them too weakened to defend the eventual frontline – which will be hundreds of miles long
A Russian soldier aims his rifle while patrolling the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works in the city of Mariupol, after it fell to Putin’s men
Rescuers work at a site of an apartment building destroyed by Russian shelling in Bakhmut, Donetsk region
A destroyed Russian tank is seen in a village to the north of Kharkiv after the area was recaptured by Ukrainian forces
A member of the Russian armed forces holding a heavy machine gun stands guard next to an armoured vehicle marked with the ‘Z’ invasion symbol in occupied Mariupol
Ukraine’s military claims that around 28,700 Russian troops have been killed in the country since February, while Russia puts its own losses 1,351, a figure that has not been updated since late March.
The Soviet-Afghan War ended in a victory for the Mujahideen when Russian forces withdrew after almost a decade of fighting.
Since the war in Ukraine began on February 24, Ukraine claims to have destroyed 204 Russian aircraft, 168 helicopters, 460 unmanned aerial vehicles, 1,263 tanks and 3,090 armored vehicles since the war began, along with almost 30,000 troops.
Russia has also lost 200 multiple rocket launcher systems, 2,162 vehicles, 103 cruise missiles, 93 anti-aircraft systems and 13 boats, the Ukrainian military said.
Body count estimates during wartime are notoriously unreliable, due to the fog-of-war.
Fighting is intensifying in the Donbas region, with Ukrainian president Zelensky saying that up to 100 Ukrainians are dying every day in battle with the Russians in the east.
On May 16, the New York Times reported that 480 Russian soldiers died attempting to bridge a river in the Donbas.
The news comes as Russian army veteran Igor Girkin – who goes by the nom-de-guerre Igor Strelkov, meaning ‘shooter’ – said Russia has no hope of winning its war in Ukraine even if it manages to seize the whole of Donbas
Ukrainian troops from an intelligence battalion conduct a patrol close to Russian frontlines in Donetsk, Donbas
Ukrainian troops armed with a British NLAW anti-tank launcher conduct a patrol in the eastern Donbas region
He said Russian units are suffering huge losses by trying to attack deeply entrenched Ukrainian troops.
Russia had made gains on the Donbas front in recent days, capturing towns around Popansa and pushing to encircle Severodonetsk.
But Strelkov says Ukraine is fast-mobilising new troops, rearming using Western weapons, and digging into new defensive positions that will be hard to overrun.
He added that general conscription of the Russian population could turn the tide, but Putin was unlikely to do so because of his belief that Russia may be close to victory in the war.
Strelkov predicts the Russian offensive could grind to a halt around mid-June. Ukraine is then likely to switch to counter attacks as it did around Kyiv and Kharkiv.
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