NATO estimates that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion Ukraine.
Including the deaths, NATO believes that Russia has suffered between 30,000 and 40,000 battlefield casualties, a term that also comprises injuries. (BTG is Battalion Tactical Group)
“By way of comparison, Moscow lost about 15,000 soldiers in Afghanistan over 10 years,” notes The Associated Press.
Russia’s outsized losses will eventually impact its ability to sustain its military campaign or a lengthy occupation. The high death toll has also led to recriminations within the Kremlin. The New York Times reports:
In Russia, the slow going and the heavy toll of President Vladimir V. Putin’s war on Ukraine are setting off questions about his military’s planning capability, his confidence in his top spies and loyal defense minister, and the quality of the intelligence that reaches him. It also shows the pitfalls of Mr. Putin’s top-down governance, in which officials and military officers have little leeway to make their own decisions and adapt to developments in real time.
The failures of Mr. Putin’s campaign are apparent in the striking number of senior military commanders believed to have been killed in the fighting. Ukraine says it has killed at least six Russian generals, while Russia acknowledges one of their deaths, along with that of the deputy commander of its Black Sea fleet. American officials say they cannot confirm the number of Russian troop deaths, but that Russia’s invasion plan appears to have been stymied by bad intelligence.
General Joseph L. Votel, the former commander of U.S. Central Command, told the Times in an email “Continuing to lose senior leaders is not good. Eventually, loss of leadership affects morale, fighting prowess and effectiveness.”
As Russian troops stumble, Putin has ratcheted up attacks on civilians. The AP reports:
With its ground forces repeatedly slowed or stopped by hit-and-run Ukrainian units armed with Western-supplied weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops are bombarding targets from afar, falling back on the tactics they used in reducing cities to ruins in Syria and Chechnya.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia has committed war crimes.
“Today, I can announce that, based on information currently available, the U.S. government assesses that members of Russia’s forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine,” he said. Blinken noted several gut-wrenching Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure, including those on a maternity hospital and a theater where children were sheltering.
“We are committed to pursuing accountability using every tool available, including criminal prosecutions,” Blinken added.
