Since the beginning of the invasion, Russia has lost 4,104 officers in Ukraine, including 7 generals and another 458 people with the rank of lieutenant colonel and higher.
The rising proportion of elderly Russians killed suggests that Russia is mobilizing untrained volunteers due to a shortage of young contract soldiers. The BBC wrote this on Friday, September 20.
The real death toll on the Russian side could range from 107,864 to 155,804 killed in action, analysts said. It was found that since the start of the invasion, Russia has lost 4,104 officers in Ukraine, including 7 generals and another 458 people with the rank of lieutenant colonel and above.
Thus, based on the analysis of obituaries and communications with the families of fallen soldiers, the publication found out the names of more than 70,000 Russian soldiers who died during the invasion of Ukraine.
Journalists put an important emphasis on how the common image of a dead Russian has changed. It was noted that if at the beginning of the invasion most of the losses were among young contract soldiers, now more and more Russians over 40 years old are dying.
The publication recalled that the average Russian military personnel killed in 2022 was a 21-year-old contract soldier who served in elite units such as the Airborne Forces or special forces. But by the middle of 2024, the proportion of elderly volunteers among the dead Russians increased significantly. Many had no combat experience or special training, and before being sent to the front they took short courses lasting from three to ten days.
The largest number of casualties in Russia are among volunteers aged 42 to 50 years. Accordingly, there are already 4,100 such people on the list of the dead – 30% of the total number of liquidated Russians.
The change indicates that Russia has largely exhausted its resource of young and professional soldiers, forcing older men with no combat training to mobilize. The obituaries also indicate that many signed the contract willingly, but there were cases of coercion, especially among conscripts, prisoners and residents of Chechnya.
Journalists noted that the Russian army continues to use the tactics of the Wagner group – such as wave attacks of small attack groups in different directions. This method leads to large losses in manpower, but exhausts the enemy and reduces the defensive strength of the Ukrainian artillery.
We remind you that Russian losses are estimated at 200 thousand dead, and up to 400 thousand Russian soldiers are wounded.
And in February 2024, President Vladimir Zelensky announced for the first time the number of killed soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces since the beginning of the war.
Let’s add that the Ukrainian military destroyed 1,340 Russian invaders in the last 24 hours. In total, since the beginning of the massive invasion, the Russian Federation has lost approximately 639,480 personnel.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.