Russia has sustained more than 600,000 casualties during the war in Ukraine, a sign of losses accelerating out of proportion with its gains, Pentagon officials said.
Since the summer, Moscow has continued to take territory in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk, including a steady advance toward Pokrovsk, a city at the center of multiple roads that help move people and equipment.
As Russia moves closer to the city, and hits thicker defensive lines, its costs have mounted. This September was its deadliest month during the entire war, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on a call Wednesday.
“Russian losses, again both killed and wounded in action, in just the first year of the war exceeded the total of all Soviet losses in any conflict since World War 2 combined,” the official said.
Despite western predictions to the contrary, Russia has still been able to sustain an all-out fight two and a half years on. That’s been true despite scores of military equipment lost or damaged, chunks of the government budget redirected toward defense and a smaller mobilization of troops.
This last category is strategically important, given how politically unpopular it would be for the Kremlin to force a larger draft, the official said. So far Russia has been able to recruit more soldiers mostly through higher pensions and pay. The growing losses along the front may challenge that approach.
That said, the rising body count doesn’t augur a victory for Ukraine, which is also taking huge losses. A senior U.S. military official, joining on the call, said the Pentagon expects Russia will continue making “incremental gains” along the front, using its advantage in numbers to cut through the otherwise firm defenses.
“It’s kind of the Russian way of war where they continue to throw mass into the into the problem, and I think we’ll continue to see high losses,” the military official said.
South Korea’s defense minister also warned this week that North Korea will likely send troops to fight alongside Russia — adding to a bevy of military equipment Pyongyang has also donated.
The U.S. defense official wouldn’t comment on multiple questions about whether that will occur.
In addition to the casualties incurred, Russia has seen 32 vessels in its Black Sea naval fleet damaged or destroyed, along with two-thirds of its pre-war stock of tanks, the defense official said. These losses have forced the Kremlin to dredge through warehouses of Soviet-era military equipment to retrofit and then deploy.
This week, U.S. President Joe Biden had planned to host a forum of world leaders supporting Ukraine in Ramstein, Germany — where the Pentagon often gathers a similar group of defense officials. The plans were canceled due to preparations for Hurricane Milton, set to make landfall in Tampa Wednesday. The White House has not yet announced a makeup date.
Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.
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