‘4,65,000 Russians killed or wounded’ — Withdraw from Ukraine to reduce losses, says UK

UK claims Moscow's losses 'phenomenal', defence now takes up 40 percent of its spending.

Russian President Vladimir Putin | Photo credit: kremlin.ru

New Delhi: More than 4,65,000 Russians have been killed or wounded since the country invaded Ukraine in 2022, a UK government statement said Wednesday, calling the losses “phenomenal”.

“Russia can minimise its losses by withdrawing all of its forces from all of Ukraine,” UK’s political and military counsellor Ankur Narayan said in a statement to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

According to the statement, 825 days have passed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, during which 4,65,000 Russians have been killed or wounded, which includes 980 daily casualties from January to April this year and an estimated 1,000 a day in May, the highest rate since the start of the war.

The defence sector now takes up 40 percent of the Russian government’s spending, equivalent to 6 percent of its GDP. Moreover, Ukraine has liberated 70,000 square miles of land seized by Russia in 2022.

“President Putin is now over two years into a war he thought would take three days. He is no closer to his goal of subjugating Ukraine,” said Narayan.

According to the statement, Russia has suffered nearly half a million casualties and lost a great proportion of its land and sea forces.