The British MOD has publicly published its casualty estimates for the Russian army for just 2024. In spite of the ridicule heaped on such estimates by our periodic Russian apologists, most who are actually informed on the subject treat those numbers as the most accurate being compiled in the West. The US releases no detailed casualty counts, but typically points to the British estimates.
The MOD has determined that the Russian armed forces lost 429,660 total casualties (KIA/WIA) in 2024 alone. That is nearly double the losses of 2023 which the MOD estimated at a then shocking 252,940. At this pace, this war will see Russia easily surpass a million total casualties before it ends. The MOD estimates that total Russian casualties for the war now surpass 790,000.
It is worthwhile remembering that modern Russia is not the Soviet Union. A nation of 140 million people, it was already suffering a fairly dramatic collapse of birth rate among its population - particularly among the European Rus. These sorts of losses will only serve to accelerate that economic time bomb.
Those casualties are increasing dramatically because of the human wave tactics being employed by the Russians and lack of armor to offer protection and fire support to these attacks (and continuing inability of the Russian Air Force to operate over the front). The Russian strategy seems to be to attempt to seize as much ground as possible prior to any negotiation whatever the cost.
Meanwhile, the Russian economy continues its accelerating drift toward true collapse with the Russian government considering extreme measures to attempt to postpone the crisis.
The worsening economic outlook has forced the Kremlin into considering drastic proposals to stem the crisis. Some of the measures up for consideration include preventing Russians withdrawing their deposits from banks and issuing food cards
www.the-express.com
In whatever negotiation emerges following the inauguration, I hope Trump realizes that though Putin still holds substantial parts of the four provinces annexed in the early stages of the war, he, NATO, and Ukraine hold a very strong hand.
www.bbc.com
