Estimate from London
Russia loses up to 190,000 soldiers in Ukraine
October 22, 2023, 5:34 p.m
The British Ministry of Defense is now making an assessment of how high the Russian losses are in Ukraine. That’s high, even though it doesn’t even include the dead and injured from the Wagner group.
According to the British Ministry of Defense, at least 150,000 Russian soldiers have died or been permanently injured in the war of aggression against Ukraine. It is likely that Russia has suffered 150,000 to 190,000 casualties since the start of the conflict, which includes dead and permanently wounded, the ministry said in its daily update on X (formerly Twitter).
If you also include injured people who have recovered and should return to the battlefield, the total number would be around 240,000 to 290,000, the British wrote. The statistics do not include the dead and injured of the Wagner mercenary group and its prisoner battalions that fought in Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
Still, defense and counterattacks
The number of victims roughly corresponds to the information provided by the Ukrainian side, which puts the Russian losses at a total of more than 293,000. This cannot currently be independently proven. Russia itself – like Ukraine – generally does not provide any information about those killed or injured in its own ranks.
Since the start of the war, Russia has significantly increased the number of armed forces in Ukraine. “This increase in personnel is the main reason Russia is able to both defend held areas and carry out costly attacks,” the ministry wrote in London. Most recently, the Russians suffered heavy losses in the battle for the village of Avdiivka.
The British Ministry of Defense has been publishing daily information on the course of the war since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Moscow accuses London of disinformation.