More Russian soldiers have been killed in a year in Ukraine than in all its 16 military actions since World War II, a group of experts says.
- Russian troops are dying five times more than Ukrainian ones, with a total of 70,000.
- The elite regiments ate replenished with reluctant recruits with little training.
The total number of Russian deaths in Ukraine is likely to have surpassed all fatalities in 16 of the nation’s military actions since World War II, it has been claimed.
The rate of soldiers killed per month in the first year of the war was 25 times higher than in Chechnya and 35 times higher than in the Soviet Union’s 10-year war in Afghanistan, a US think tank said.
Russian troops are believed to be dying five times as many as Ukrainian ones, with the total numbering around 70,000.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said Russia suffered between 13,000 and 25,000 deaths in the two Chechen wars, meaning Ukraine’s death toll in a year could be five times that of Chechnya for almost 15 years.
Among those killed in the initial attack on Ukraine in February last year were elite regiments, which are now being replenished with reluctant recruits with little training and poor equipment.
Russian troops are believed to be dying five times more than Ukrainians (Pictured: A Ukrainian service member carries a mortar shell before firing on Russian troops)
Soldiers are furious at their commanders’ tactics, such as being ordered at gunpoint to charge into open ground (Pictured: A Ukrainian BM-21 ‘Grad’ MSLR)
Reports this week claim that Russian teenagers now have the same life expectancy as those in Haiti.
It comes as more reports of mutinies among Russian forces in eastern Ukraine surfaced yesterday.
Soldiers are furious with their commanders’ tactics, such as ordering them at gunpoint to charge into open ground. A video on the Telegram social media channel showed Russian troops refusing to do this. One said: ‘You can jail us. How long is it? Five, seven, ten years? Fight yourselves. But for what? For whom? Life is more important.
At least six Ukrainian civilians were killed and more wounded when Russia launched 81 airstrikes yesterday.
The attack temporarily cut off power to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, raising new fears of a catastrophe.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has dismissed the Kremlin’s claims that it attempted to assassinate officials in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria. The pro-Russian enclave said Ukrainian agents intended to detonate a car bomb. Ukraine denied planning any attack.
Last month, Moldova’s pro-Western President Maia Sandu accused Moscow of plotting to oust her.