The number of troops killed or wounded since the Russian army invaded Ukraine last February on both sides of the conflict has reached approximately half a million, according to American government estimates.
Although a true accounting of the number of casualties suffered by both the Russians and the Ukrainians is difficult to decern given that Kyiv refuses to publish such figures and Western observers consider those disclosed by Moscow to be downplayed, U.S. defence sources have claimed that the total for both sides is around 500,000.
According to a report from the New York Times this week, citing unnamed American government officials, Russia has suffered nearly 300,000 casualties since it embarked upon what it dubbs its “special military operation” in Ukraine last year. Of these, some 120,000 Russians are believed to have been killed and another 170,000-180,000 have been injured on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, the U.S. officials cited by the paper claimed that Ukraine has seen around 70,000 soldiers killed in action and between 100,000 and 12o,000 injured.
While the estimated casualties for the Russians significantly outweigh those suffered by the Ukrainians, when taken proportionately the script flips, with Ukraine only boasting around 500,000 troops to draw from compared to 1,330,000 active-duty Russian soldiers, representing a nearly three-to-one advantage. Russia also has a much larger population to draw on to replace its killed or injured forces.
The paper noted that the number of military deaths suffered by Ukraine since last February has already surpassed the entire losses of the American military during the twenty years it was active in Vietnam, which stood around 58,000.
The nature of the war has also shifted, with Russia now playing defence in most of the positions along the frontline since the beginning of the much-hyped Ukrainian counteroffensive, a far more advantageous stance compared to the offensive fighting of the initial phases of the invasion. In contrast, Ukraine is now fighting against heavily entrenched Russian forces, who have dug in their positions in the Donbas region and in the southeast of the country.
The counteroffensive, which has largely been seen as a disappointment by Western observers, has seen Ukraine suffer increased levels of casualties, with thousands killed. In addition, some 20 per cent of the advanced weaponry supplied by the United States and its European allies was damaged or destroyed during the first two weeks of the counteroffensive, alone.
This includes tanks and armoured vehicles, such as the American Bradley Fighting Vehicles and the German-made Leopard 2 tanks that were seen as crucial in pushing back the Russians.
According to a separate report from the Washington Post, joint war games conducted by the American, British, and Ukrainian militaries conducted prior to the counteroffensive began in June predicted that Ukraine would suffer major casualties against the fortified Russian lines. Despite this, the battle plans drawn up by the U.S. and UK “envisioned Kyiv accepting the casualties as the cost of piercing through Russia’s main defensive line,” according to American officials cited by the paper.
Commenting on the grim revelation, Canadian independent journalist Aaron Maté said that it was “more proof that [the] U.S. sees Ukrainians as cannon fodder.”
The paper went on to report that the U.S. intelligence community has now assessed that even with Kyiv changing tactics since the outset, Ukraine’s counteroffensive will likely fail to reach the city of Melitopol, which means that the central aim of the mission — to sever Russia’s connection to the Crimean Peninsula — will probably not be accomplished this year.
It also casts doubt on the willingness of Kyiv to come to the negotiating table with Moscow, given that Ukraine has seemed intent on recapturing its territory before entering peace talks with Russia. Rather than push for negotiations regardless, the Biden administration appears set on pouring more money into the proxy war, demanding that Congress approve an additional $20.6 billion in aid on top of the $113 billion in taxpayer dollars already committed to the foreign conflict.