In total, about 500,000 troops have either been killed or injured since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, US officials have claimed.
Russia is believed to have seen a higher number of casualties, with 120,000 troops said to have died fighting for Moscow, while somewhere in the region of 180,000 are thought to have been injured.
Ukraine’s figures look comparatively light at 70,000 dead and up to 120,000 injured, although officials have added that the data is skewed by the fact Russia is thought to be fielding three times the number of troops.
Many of the casualties are said to have arisen since the latter half of 2022, with the siege of Bakhmut and Ukraine’s counteroffensive said to have resulted in significant casualties on both sides.
Officials insisted that the figures for both sides are merely estimates, with Ukraine having refused to publish its own casualty numbers while Russia has been accused of underestimating its own losses.
The casualties seem to favour Russia slightly, with Moscow thought to be able to deploy far more troops in the long term, although experts have warned that the losses could have a significant political impact on both countries.
The lack of a defined “endgame” in Ukraine beyond one option that appears increasingly hard to achieve is an increasing dilemma for the EU with each day that passes, writes @jrfjeffrey.@RStatecraft | @TheGrayzoneNews | @TomasZdechovskyhttps://t.co/Chh6GIWnYV
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) August 2, 2023
Since its launch in the summer, Ukraine’s counteroffensive has so far failed to make any major ground.
This has been blamed on various factors, such as the West not delivering weapons to the country fast enough, as well as Russian mines deployment and environmental difficulties caused by a collapse in farming.
What little territory has been gained by Ukrainian troops has come at the cost of lives, ammunition and valuable equipment.
According to The New York Times, as much as 20 per cent of the weaponry sent East by the United States is thought to have been destroyed in the fighting.
Military experts are fearful that the Ukraine’s return to USSR-style combat strategy, which involves the use of vast numbers of artillery shells to weaken enemy positions, could go against Kyiv in the long run, with the country at risk of running out of ammunition if it does not change course.
Some officials in US President Joe Biden’s administration are said to have accused their Ukrainian counterparts of becoming “casualty averse”, arguing that its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should be “more willing” to sacrifice more men to win ground against Russian forces.
