October saw Russia hit with its worst casualty rate since the war in Ukraine began, a senior UK official has said.
The UK’s Chief of Defence Staff, Tony Radakin, said on BBC’s “Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg” that Russia suffered a daily average of more than 1,500 killed or injured troops in October, which he called “an extraordinary price” for “tiny increments of land.”
But he added that there was “no doubt that Russia is making tactical, territorial gains” that are putting pressure on Ukraine.
In a post on X on Sunday, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense shared figures from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces that put Russian combat losses since the start of the invasion in February 2022 at around 709,000 troops.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in late October that the number of Russian troops killed or wounded in the war was “over 600,000.”
Russia has also suffered heavy losses to military vehicles during the war, losing over 9,200 tanks and around 18,700 armored fighting vehicles, per the Ukrainian figures.
The Institute for the Study of War said in an update on the conflict on Saturday that Russian forces would not be able to sustain its current loss rates indefinitely, “especially not for such limited gains.”
Russian forces were bolstered by the arrival of thousands of North Korean soldiers in October, Western officials have said.
Reports of Ukrainian and North Korean troops’ first clashes in Russia’s Kursk region emerged earlier this week.
In his interview with Kuenssberg, Radakin also mentioned the mounting pressure on the Russian economy.
Russia has been spending big on defense over the course of the war in Ukraine, which has fueled growth but also led to rampant inflation.
The Russian central bank raised its key interest rate to a record 21% in October to try to combat inflation it said was “running considerably above” expectations.
Russia is probably capable of going for years before it has to confront its overspending, Alexandra Prokopenko, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, wrote in the Financial Times last month.
“This is an unpleasant truth for policymakers in Europe and the US,” Prokopenko said.
Following his election win earlier this week, Donald Trump’s team has reportedly been laying out plans for how to end the war in Ukraine.
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