Almost 500,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine war, GCHQ says

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

Almost 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since it launched its fullscale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to the UK's largest spy agency.

The numbers were revealed by GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler in her inaugural public speech as she set out the threats facing the UK and the measures she believes need to be taken to confront them.
...
The BBC has so far been able to confirm the names of 223 539 soldiers and officers, killed fighting for the Russian side in Ukraine.

The real death toll is believed to be much higher, and military experts we have consulted believe our analysis of cemeteries, war memorials and obituaries might represent 45-65% of the total.

Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g44gprnnvo

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That's roughly equivalent to Americans killed in WW2, over a similar time period. All for Putin's desire for territory.

[Irish_Dem]

1. This is a tragedy and will impact Ukraine for generations.

Damn that rat bastard Putin.

[dalton99a]

2. Putin needs to be dead.

[OnlinePoker]

3. And another 850,000 wounded according to Ukraine's Ministry of Defense

But Russia doesn't care about the wounded. There are many videos of men with crutches, missing limbs or an eye, who are forced into meat wave attacks against Ukraine's drone army. If any of their men refuse to go on these attacks, they are tied to trees and brutalized. While Ukraine treats Russian POWs according to the Geneva Conventions, Russia regularly starves and tortures the Ukrainians they capture. They have an 18th century mentality when it comes to war, not caring about their own soldiers or captured enemy combatants.

[AloeVera]

4. Most of them impoverished young men from non-Russian ethnic groups from the backwoods.

Impoverished, joining to help their families out of poverty or simply drafted.For what?

War is a scourge unleashed by greedy, heartless old men chasing the dreams of Empire and illusions of glory.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Here is the latest report on Russian losses

[DoBW]

6. Putin is Plague

[Mysterian]

7. Yet the Russian people have not revolted against their insane dictator

A Ukranian person told me, "That's who they are." Meaning the Russian people believe in Putin's war.

[forgotmylogin]

8. The Russian soldiers drove down the middle of residential streets outside Kyiv and shot people in cars.

[Torchlight]

9. 1.2 million Russians killed or wounded

Afghanistan, resulting in only 15,000 KIA, was a major political liability for the Politburo, corroding their grip even further. As always, authoritarian regimes often appear stable until suddenly they are not.

I think from Putin's POV, the issue is less the number itself than the perception that losses are pointless. At the moment, the Kremlin has mostly avoided that perception domestically. But if Russia keeps taking 30k+ casualties per month indefinitely, eventually social tolerance will corrode.

Serbia under Milosevic was on-brand, until suddenly he wasn't. It's a tough lesson to learn, and humans tend to complacently forget those lessons after a generation or two.