Bulk of Russian troops killed in Ukraine war were ‘young, poor and from minorities’
- Observers say many of Russia’s casualties in Ukraine were between 20 and 23, from poorer regions
- UK says Russia has lost up to one-third of the combat strength it committed to Ukraine in February
The bulk of the thousands of Russian soldiers killed in Moscow’s onslaught against Ukraine are very young, have poor backgrounds and many are from ethnic minority groups, observers say.
There has been close attention on the numbers of Russian generals and high-ranking officers killed since the invasion launched by President Vladimir Putin on February 24, which has proved far more costly than the Kremlin wished.
But with observers believing the Russian toll could now be exceeding the 15,000 Soviet soldiers killed during the 1979-1989 occupation of Afghanistan, the losses among Russian rank-and-file soldiers have been devastating.
Russia has been remarkably tight-lipped on the number of its soldiers killed, giving a toll of 498 soldiers killed on March 2 and updating this to 1,351 on March 25, with no more information since.
Ukraine puts the toll of Russian soldiers at 27,000 and while most Western sources find this high, they also give figures many times higher than the Russian estimates.
“Russia has now likely suffered losses of one-third of the ground combat force it committed in February,” the British defence ministry said Sunday, indicating that some 50,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded.
