Russian troops captured just 177 square kilometers of territory in Ukraine last month. The American business magazine ‘Forbes’ calculated that at this rate it will take another 230 years before Moscow controls the entire country. And then we haven’t even talked about the number of victims.
Koen Van De Sype
Journalist at HLN
The (slight) advance in April had a significant cost. The Russian army lost 36,570 soldiers. This includes both fallen and injured soldiers.
“At this rate, it will take them until 2256 to conquer the entire country and it will cost them 101 million victims,” said ‘Forbes’. For comparison: Russia has 144 million inhabitants.
Minimal
In contrast, Ukrainian losses were “minimal”, according to Polish specialist consultancy ‘Rochan Consulting’.
The heavy losses do not make Moscow slow down. According to US General Christopher Cavoli – the commander of the US military in Europe – Russia is recruiting 30,000 soldiers per month. And because many of the wounded eventually return to the front, for the time being there are still more soldiers being added than those being lost. As a result, the Russian army in Ukraine continues to grow today.
There are currently 600,000 Russian soldiers in Ukraine and there have never been so many. More than twice as many as at the time of the invasion in 2022.
How President Putin manages to keep finding soldiers? The high bonuses that candidates receive and speculation that the war is almost over, according to the German ‘Institute for International and Security Affairs’.
Money
Russia also continues to pump money into the war. No less than 40 percent of all government expenditure goes to defense.
Russia currently controls 19 percent of Ukraine.
