Madrid/British intelligence put the number of Russian soldiers dead at 500,000 since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and estimated casualties at 1.5 million if the wounded are included, according to communicated This Friday Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton, head of the British Armed Forces, told the press.
“That means there are half a million photographs hanging on the walls of devastated, dark homes across Russia. That means half a million families will never see their father, their son, their brother or their husband again,” declared Knighton.
The vast majority of casualties have occurred since January 2023, he said, a period during which Russian forces have conquered just an additional 2% of Ukrainian territory: “I think these figures clearly illustrate the senseless and useless waste of human lives to achieve so little progress and against such an illegitimate objective of President Putin.”
Knighton also estimated Russian material losses at more than 10,000 armored and protected vehicles, nearly 3,000 artillery and air defense systems and more than 370 aircraft and helicopters since the beginning of the invasion.
The 1.5 million casualties (dead and wounded) mentioned by Knighton are very close to kyiv’s calculations
The Air Chief Marshal warned that he sees no signs that Putin has given up his objectives in Ukraine, despite the impact of the war: “The cost to the Russian economy and to the prosperity and prospects of its population is enormous,” he said.
Last May, Anne Keast-Butler, director of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the British electronic and cyber intelligence agency, had already revealed that “new intelligence” placed the number of Russian soldiers killed since the beginning of the invasion on February 24, 2022 at “almost half a million.”
In that intervention, Keast-Butler held that Putin was “retreating from the battlefield.” The evaluation was later reiterated by the British Government before the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Osce).
The 1.5 million casualties mentioned by Knighton are very close to kyiv’s calculations. The Ukrainian General Staff placed this Thursday Russian personnel losses at 1,503,880 since the beginning of the invasion, 1,490 more than reported the previous day.
The highest estimate has been given by the Ukrainian president himself, Volodymyr Zelensky, who at the end of July put the number of Russian soldiers dead at around 700,000.
The high rate of casualties has been maintained even with very limited territorial advances. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Washington, calculation that Russia lost 42,020 troops in August, the second consecutive month above 40,000. According to the center, Russian troops suffered an average of 465 casualties for every square kilometer conquered during that month.
Midzonean independent Russian media, the BBC Russian service and a group of volunteers had identified by first and last name to 223,539 dead Russian soldiers, from obituaries, official records, cemeteries and other public sources. The count, its authors warned, is not exhaustive.
The highest estimate It was given by the Ukrainian president himself, Volodymyr Zelensky, who at the end of July put the number of Russian soldiers dead at around 700,000 and total casualties at 1.6 million. Moscow does not publish an updated and verifiable toll of its dead and wounded.
