#staggeringlosses

With reference to the lyrics of Bob Dylan’s song, “Blowin’ in the Wind,” these staggering increasing losses of Russian troops don’t seem to ever be enough for Putin to realize that too many have been killed or wounded. 🇺🇦💙💛🇺🇦

#Repost @kyivindependent_official with @use.repost . . . Russia has lost 421,000 troops in Ukraine in 2024, the “highest price since the start of the invasion,” Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a Telegram post on Dec. 28.

The figure includes both dead and wounded and is part of the total losses of approximately 785,000 Russian troops since the beginning of the invasion in February 2022.

Syrskyi, reporting on the outcomes of a meeting regarding the Armed Forces’ activities, said that the Ukrainian military was “maintaining control over strategically important areas, securing the western part of the Black Sea, and weakening the enemy’s military and industrial potential.”

He also said that the Armed Forces also established the Unmanned Systems Forces in 2024, which are “necessary in the conditions of modern technological warfare.”

This branch is the first in the world to use unmanned aerial, surface, subsurface, and ground systems, as well as robotics, in combat operations.

Syrskyi said that compared to 2023, the volume of deliveries of unmanned systems to Ukrainian units increased 19 times, and the number of enemy targets hit and destroyed increased 3.7 times.

He also said that Ukraine has reduced Russia's military potential through "DeepStrike means."

DeepStrike, a long-range strike strategy, gained traction in 2024 when U.S. President Joe Biden authorized the use of U.S.-made ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory on Nov. 17, closely followed by the first use of British-made Storm Shadow missiles.

Since then, Kyiv has intensified its campaign of strikes on Russian territory, targeting military and industrial facilities to weaken Russia's war effort in Ukraine.

Syrskyi also said that a decision had been made to extend the terms of basic training of mobilized personnel.

Such a decision was announced on Dec. 27, when Syrskyi himself said that Ukraine's military leadership planned to extend basic military training to two months in order to "increase the readiness and safety of soldiers.

Photo: Oleksandr Syrskyi/Telegram

“Russian losses reached record highs in November and December, with a daily high of 2,030 troops lost in November, marking the highest daily loss since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.” ~ @kyivindependent_official 🇺🇦💙💛🇬🇧

#Repost @kyivindependent_official with @use.repost . . . Russian military losses in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine have exceeded 750,000 Russian soldiers, and are expected to surpass 1 million Russian troops within six months, U.K. Under-Secretary of Defense Luke Pollard said on Dec. 19.

The U.K.’s latest estimate are in line with figures from Ukraine’s General Staff, which, as of Dec. 19, sits at 768,220 troops lost since the start of the war. The figures do not specify killed or wounded, though the overall consensus is that it includes dead, wounded, missing, and captured.

“It is highly likely that they have sustained significant combat casualties, whilst only achieving limited tactical gains,” Pollard told British parliamentarians on Dec. 19.

Russia has gained ground in eastern Ukraine and Kursk Oblast in recent months but at the cost of heavy casualties.

Russian losses reached record highs in November and December, with a daily high of 2,030 troops lost in November, marking the highest daily loss since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Russian losses exceeded 45,000 troops and $3 billion worth of equipment in November.

Ukrainian authorities reported 700,000 Russian losses on Nov. 4, less than three months after they announced 600,000 Russian casualties.

Moscow does not disclose its casualty figures, though a Defense Ministry official recently let slip that the department received 48,000 requests to identify missing soldiers.

According to joint investigation by BBC Russia and Mediazona, a Russian independent media outlet, published on Dec. 6, journalists have identified the names of 82,050 Russian soldiers who died during the full-scale invasion.

President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed in a rare statement that Ukraine had lost 43,000 soldiers on the battlefield since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

In an attempt to mitigate casualties among Russian citizens, Moscow has also made an effort to recruit foreigners into their army. Russia has cooperated with North Korea, with Pyongyang reportedly dispatching 10,000-12,000 soldiers to assist Russia with its war against Ukraine.

Photo: Kostyantyn Chernichkin/The Kyiv Independent