The number of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine has surpassed 50,000.
The phrase “meat grinder” was used to characterize Moscow’s unrelenting attempts to wear out Ukrainian troops and expose their positions to Russian fire; the figure of casualties increased by over 25% in the second year of the battle.
The total number of casualties is eight times more than what Moscow publicly acknowledged in September 2022, the only time such a statistic was disclosed.
The new death toll highlights the heavy toll that Russia’s shifting frontline strategies have had on the country’s military. The Russian military’s casualties skyrocketed in January 2023 when it launched a massive operation in the Donetsk area of Ukraine. The Russian forces used ineffective human-wave style frontal assaults during the battle for Vuhledar, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Another notable rise appears in the graph during the spring of 2023 when the mercenary outfit Wagner assisted Russia in capturing Bakhmut. Around that time, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, believed that his organization had lost 22,000 people. Another spike in casualties occurred in the military after Russia’s conquest of the city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine last fall.
Aerial photos reveal that graveyards have grown substantially.
Approximately 80% of Russia’s casualties in the fighting were civilians who had no prior connection to the Russian armed forces.
Russia launched complex military operations in 2022 because of its skilled forces. But now that many of the veterans are either dead or injured, their positions have been filled by civilians who lack the necessary military training.
The Kremlin authorized the use of prison inmates to head into battle. Nine thousand of them died, according to a study performed by the BBC.
The average life expectancy of a former prisoner was three months under Wagner, while it was only two months for those recruited later by the defense ministry.
Almost exclusively composed of incarcerated individuals, the ministry has organized army formations called Storm platoons, which are often sent into combat as a disposable force.
