Vladimir Putin suffered a “phenomenal loss” over the past two years of war in Ukraine, an expert has noted in a speech delivered to the OSCE in Vienna.
Ankur Narayan, Britain’s Politico-Military Counsellor at the UK delegation to the group, said that, 825 days since the beginning of the unlawful invasion ordered by the Kremlin, Russia had lost more than 465,000 soldiers, being either wounded or killed on the battlefield.
Speaking on May 29, the expert noted the daily casualty rate experienced by Russia in Ukraine comes down to an astonishing 980.
He added: “Estimates in May, put that number over 1000 per day. That is around 30,000 per month. The highest rate it has been since the start of this war.”
Carrying on listing the huge cost of the illegal war for Russia in both human and economic terms, Mr Narayan said that, to fund its war machine, the Kremlin ramped up defence spending to 40 percent.
The expert also noted Ukraine has managed to liberate 70,000 square miles of land Russia had seized during the first days of invasion in February 2022, adding the eastern European nation had dealt heavy blows to the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea and successfully resumed maritime exports from its Black Sea ports.
He added: “To summarise. 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.
“Instead, Russia has suffered nearly half a million casualties, and lost a great proportion of its land and sea forces.
“Economists do not need to be reminded about sunk cost fallacy. Seen objectively, the numbers point to a phenomenal loss for a country like Russia – in Russian lives, materiel and credibility.”
Mr Narayan then referred directly to what the newly-appointed Defence Minister of Russia, Andrei Belousov, said upon taking up his post – that he wanted the war to be carried out with “minimal human losses”.
The British expert said: “There is a simple way to minimise human losses. Russia chose to start this war. Russia can choose to end it. “Ukraine has the right to defend itself. We will continue to stand resolutely with Ukraine. Russia should respect the UN Charter, end its war, and withdraw all of its forces from all of Ukraine.”
