The UK Ministry of Defence estimates over 350,000 Russian personnel casualties, and significant losses of military assets, including 2,600 tanks and 4,900 armoured vehicles, in Ukraine since February 2022.
In a recent parliamentary written question and answer, John Healey, the MP for Wentworth and Dearne, inquired about the Russian military losses in Ukraine since the conflict’s onset in February 2022:
“To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the number of Russian (a) main battle tanks, (b) armoured vehicles, (c) fixed-wing aircraft, (d) artillery pieces, (e) surface ships, and (f) submarines destroyed in Ukraine since February 2022.”
James Heappey, the Minister of State for the Armed Forces, provided the response on 29th January 2024, detailing the estimated losses sustained by the Russian military:
“We estimate that approximately 350,000 Russian military personnel have been killed or wounded since the start of the conflict. We also estimate that over 2,600 Russian main battle tanks, 4,900 armoured vehicles (armoured personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles), 101 fixed-wing aircraft, 1,400 artillery pieces, six surface ships, and one submarine has been destroyed since the start of the conflict.
Still not enough.
The Russians will just keep the conveyor belt going until it archives it’s somewhat revised goals of absorbing the seperatist areas and retaining a coastal land bridge to Crimea.
They have secured that goal, now they need to exhaust Ukraine into throwing in the towel.
I think we all have a horrible thought that the ‘ The Donald strikes back’ will attempt to facilitate just that!
He will likely force Ukraine into accepting a deal along those terms to end the war.
A very sad state of affairs, but I think Ukraine will be sold down the river.
Russia population – 147 million
Russia GDP- $1.78 Trillion
EU Population – 450 Million
EU – GDP -$19.4 Trillion
But somehow, it’s all Donald Trump’s fault.
Well Daniel, the US is the pied piper, they have been for 80 years, they lead the way and set the drum beat.
The US sitting President calls the shots in the West and that’s that…
As unpalatable as that might be, you do understand surely?
Ukraine have held back so far on Russian infrastructure if the help does indeed stop be prepared for more and more refineries etc going up in flames and the cost of energy going up! They won’t care about upsetting the west if they are left on their own.
I guess we will see Jacko, international support is sadly ebbing away.
I think Trump will try to force through a negotiated agreement that will see Ukraine seed land for guaranteed NATO and EU membership, securing it’s redrawn boarder.
The fact is, most wars of this sort of stable stalemate, eventually end in some sort of unpalatable compromise.
We are all routing for Ukraine, but I think an end game will be forced on them.
If the Ukrainian leadership fight it, I dare say a new leadership that agree will replace it.
We will see…
Funny how UKR is expected to stomach the unpalitable & not the duplicitous invader, Russia. Russia broke treaties & swore blind it would not do what it has done. They threatened nuclear retaliation on anyone assisting UKR, declared UKR’s right to exist null & void, kidnapped thousands of UKR children, carpet bombed UKR, loads of atrocities etc.
So what is any treaty with Russia worth? We can only rely on force to counter force.
👍Certainly any treaty with ruZZia is Not worth the paper it is written on!
I think you are 100% correct, we’re not dealing with an honourable government, he is a modern day Hitler. How can we possibly expect a person like Trump to be strong for what’s right. He is a criminal and a felon. We should all get behind Ukrainian solidarity and support the UN against tyranny.
On whose own?
The whole shebang happens on us/eu taxpayers money.
Had they not funneled money to nazis there’d not have been a war.
Putins Gang ARE the ‘Nazis’, anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional.
I think it is embarrassing that Europe and the UK cannot defend itself with the US. There is no excuse that Europe and the UK can’t have enough forces to defence itself without US tax payers. Like him or hate him Trump was right that Europe and the UK do not pay their way in defence. Also, Biden 100% has very advanced dementia and this is a major threat to the West. Who the hell is pulling Biden’s strings because he can’t even make a decision to go to the toilet on his own. I hope it isn’t Mrs Cackle (Kamarla Harris) as she is brainless as well. Have you seen his recent public speeches? I mean I feel for the guy that he has advanced dementia but he should definitely not be President (he’s a major risk to himself and others). Biden’s speech after Afghan’s fell off US transport planes made me physically sick as his real personality came out as well. I personally think Biden is a greater risk to world peace than Trump. I’m no fan of Trump but for god’s sake how could Democrats even consider this man as physically or mentally fit for high office is beyond me….don’t forget that Biden has the red button…would you trust a dementia riven President with the red button? Yes Trump is a loose cannon but at least the guy has his marbles in place…Biden didn’t have his when he entered the oval office….
Trump is absolutely right that Europe should pay it’s way, why should the US tax payer pay to defend us, while we Europeans spend the bulk of our cash on social spending?
A pre cursor to NATO membership in these dangerous times, should absolutely be 3% GDP on defence, commit to it, or get out out of the club.
I think both Biden and Trump are bloody awful choices, seriously, 350 million people and these two clowns are the best they can come up with!!!
Neither have their marbles in place Andrew…..
Social spending? The majority of money across the west goes into the offshore accounts of the super rich, leaving less & less to go towards state responsabilities, including social spending & defence. The biggest freeloaders, fraudsters & swindlers are the super rich.
Since Reagan & Thatcher, wealth has been going in one direction, away from all we need for a decent & civilised, well protected society.
The simple fact is Frank, there is an old American analogy of running an effective economy.
Picture the economy as a large four wheel cart, most folks are pulling it along and when people need to rest, they sit in the back.
Today, so many people are sat in the back, those pulling can barely make the wheels turn…
Despite all the political bullshit from both parties, the simple fact is we are spending more than we earn, year in, year out.
Watching QT last night in Scotland, it was the usual SNP blaming England for all it woes, until someone pointed out that Scotland gets more per head than England, the SNP is in charge of its budget and has been for 16 years and roughly put, is spending £100 for every £75 it generates!
The simple fact is, as a nation, we are borrowing money to give it away, living way beyond our means and causing catastrophic debt to the economy and for our kids to pay back.
The tipping point was the pandemic, since then many more people fully believe it’s ‘totally’ the States job to wet nurse them, they have a right to work from home ( causing massive damage to economy) and some, their children should be given breakfast at bloody school!!
The social services ‘safety net’ has has turn into a bloody bouncy castle with a free burger van attached!
Weird to rally against free school meals but not furlough..
All part of the same situation. COVID just screwed the pooch, as our American cousins would say.
The legacy issues continue to echo on, i.e, millions still working from home in a massively ineffectual way, hay ho, it’s all going to fall off a cliff, sod all we can do about it, wonder were we will land?😣
I think the reality is that if Europe pays it’s way the US would find the loss of soft-power unacceptable.
I am totaly fine with this idea. Europe can barely rely on USA. I think It is time for us to rely on our weapons and soldiers, and develop more our arsenal and fleet.
In order to replace the huge mass the US brings to the table, European NATO world have to invest 5% each on defence, you know as well as I do that will never happen.
It would mean tax hikes and social spending reductions to invest the extra 10’s of billions each.
In fact some partners invest way less than 2%….
This matter is not related to GDP %. It is related to will. Can we rely on US? Yes or No? Can we rely on Trump? Yes or No? What is US commitment when stacks are increasing? What is the usefullness of US nuclear umbrella? What is the usefullness of the US stockpiles in regards of compeeting needs?
We don’t have a channel. So… no repite. We must be prepared and we are not. The question is not a matter of GDP %. It is a matter of will to exist.
You’re very right to point out the important point of Bidens cognitive decline. It’s a major risk to global security and economy in this situation. I wouldn’t say it’s ‘its very advanced’ but certainly too advanced to be in his role. I think Trump will do better
I think the point was that if the EU or even just a few of its major members really applied Putin’s derermination (which would cost them siginificsntly in social and economic areas) Russia would be overmatched. Thats something the orange man would approve of too. America does not really figure in that sense.
I think you understand as much as all europeans what the stacks are in a US unilateral decision on that matter.
Well, the orange oaf is a Russian stooge, so yeah.
Daft isn’t it? Trump ‘supports’ pootin,he supports Iran they are killing Americans by proxy! Funny old world🙄
I find it insane that someone as clearly unfit & compromised as Trump be allowed anywhere near public office, but to be elected as president, attempt practically a coup & then be in the running for another term is beyond all reason. Not that we’ve had many capable/qualified leaders here in the UK recently.
The EU is not a nation Daniel, it’s a group of nations…some of them are even allies of Putin ( well one)..the reality is everyone likes to portray the EU as a sovereign entity but it’s not..the lead sovereign entity of the west is the USA, you guys willingly took hegemonic power from the UK..with that came lost of economic benefits but it also comes with an cost of the privilege of being the hegemonic power..if the US does take its foot of that gas it has to accept some other nation will become the hegemonic power and that power will be china..backed by its friends Russia, Iran, North Korea, Brazil, a few other South American and less please African nations…you can argue all you want but the European nations apart from the UK and France lost all will to really influence the wider world and are only really interested in their bits of Europe. If the U.S. does not take an interest in Europe, Europe will not take an interest in the U.S. and the US really needs Europe if it wants to maintain hegemony..if it does not then that’s fine but if that’s the case it really needs to disengage with tiawan and the western pacific..or it’s in for a torrid time in the future…the worst case is a European US split just as china finally gets its ducks ( Russia, Iran, North Korea, Africa and some bit of South America) all in a row…while the US maintains a belligerent/dominant attitude in the western pacific…
Thank you! This is exactly the truth and a lot of Americans don’t seem to see this. People seem to forget how America became world hegemon. It wasn’t through keeping to themselves. If Russia wins this war, they’re going to lose a lot more wealth and power than the money they’d put towards it
The will to attack still exists in France and UK and probably less in other nations. Though the will to resist an invasion is in every country of the continent. I think your statement both underestimate what USA is ready to do overseas’ and what EU nations are willing to do here.
In EU, people are angry and scared. In US, people see another bill. Totally different than what a toy comparison will bring to any analysis. Second thing: europeans, British included see now what American unweawering commitment mean: poke the bear, a good start and a change of mind in the middle of the war. I think the relationship will need a word or two to get a better understanding of each other.
Yes totally and the right wing loonies that support him.
What follows is all as a percentage of GDP as I have understood reports.
Military support: UK marginally in front, then USA, then well behind EU.
Economic support: EU in front, then USA, then UK very far behind.
Ukrainian refugees accepted: EU 90% +, USA and UK? I believe Turkey has taken more than both of us together.
Knowing their vulnerable are safe is important for Ukrainian morale, and taken millions out helps resist Russia’s energy attacks in the winter and other measures. If you place any realistic monetary value on taking the refugees in then the EU is the main backer, then USA, UK well behind.
Yet according to the Russian stooges on this site, Trumpies and Leavers alike, it is all the EUs fault?
Exactly. Pull yer fingers our boys
Very good point Daniel. My own view is that whoever wins the US election the writing is on the wall and Europe simply must realise that we must collectively have the resources to defend ourselves, at least in a conventional war. US focus is moving away.
All the more reason for the rest of Europe & NATO to back UKR up & keep them going until Putin fails.
Also shows the insanity of reducing to such low numbers across the forces. To deter or fight , even a limited war, you need numbers & reserves to replace losses, plus the manufacturing capacity to replenish losses. Also we need to stop losing agricultural land so we can feed ourselves if our maritime supply lines get cut.
Decades of cuts have made us a very brittle nation, defense wise. We’ve been prepared like lambs to the slaughter. Hopefully by getting more behind UKR we can make the likes of Putin & Xi doubt an easy victory over the west. They’re happy to spend lives & treasure to get world domination. Will we fight for freedom?
That is plain nonsense! The rot started when your beloved Obama did nothing in 2014, aided by the failing EU and remoaner Cameron. ‘The Donald’ was nowhere near. Yes, ‘The Donald’ may have to sort the peace, and rightly so. No one else is capable.
My beloved Obama???
I’m not American you know, what on earth makes you think I would support him anyway?
“The Donald’ may have to sort the peace, and rightly so. No one else is capable.”
Sort of sums it up really, the arrogant cock sorted nothing while he was in power and tried to start an insurrection when he lost a democratic election…
He brought shame on America and I’m sure had the founding fathers rolling in their graves.
So if you like your Presidents cut from the slightly insane, molesting, wanna be dictator cloth,vote Trump….
If you want your President cut from the dithering and slightly senile cloth, vote Biden.
And I thought we were screwed 🤣🤣😂😂🤣
And how many ukranians ?
Too many. It should be none as Russia and putin should stay within the borders of the largest country on earth.
Spring could be interesting. Ukraine have mastered their western armour, they have F-16s and mine clearance robots. Will they try to cut the bridge to Crimea before the US election?
And yet without ongoing support, it will collapse in on itself.
Just look at the lessons from History, South Vietnam was hugely powerful on paper, but it collapsed after the US ‘effectively’ withdraw it’s support in 1973.
They will likely threaten much the same again if they don’t negotiate, Trump doesn’t give a shit about them, he just wants it ended and he will bulldoze through it….
Agree this is the odds on outcome, and the Russians are well dug in. But I don’t think that Ukraine is ready to chuck in the towel just yet. They will take it to the wire. The EU ministers are meeting today to find a way around Hungary’s block on support for Ukraine.
Unlike Vietnam though where the population shrugged their shoulders and went with the flow Ukrainians are determined to fight for their country!
They absolutely are, but, if the US dramatically reduced it’s support, the Russian steam roller would eventually force them to the negotiating table.
They know this is reality (despite the war cry) and so does Trump and Putin.
I think Trump would open back channels to Putin and offer him a way out of this bloody disastrous war by agreeing between them an end game.
That would be a Russian permanent annexation of the Eastern separatist territories, Crimea (and a land bridge to it).
The Ukrainians would be forced to accept the deal, with the new land boarder set in stone, some sort of NATO guarantee and EU membership, possibly with a US ‘neo Marshall plan’ to get Ukraine back on its feet.
I would put serious money on Trump forcing a deal very close to the above on Ukraine.
I think we all legitimately fear ‘the Donald strikes back’, but I also legitimately fear four more years of ineffective bumbling Joe!
I wish America would show some real world leadership again, the likes of Reagan and Bush Senior seem to be gone sadly, somehow we are left with idiots….
If Reagan was around, he would have massively increased support to Ukraine and told the Russians nose to nose that he would ensure they won and Russia would be bled dry trying to slug it out …
Alas, such leadership is 6 feet under……
Paul wrote:
“”Ukraine have mastered their western armour, “”
That they have, we saw that at the start of the campaign with video of that BTR4 shooting up that Russian armour in Mariupol, the other week of the Bradleys shooting up that T90 and there was a very interesting video down the round yesterday of a M113 and Bradley combo zipping down a lane into Russian territory and with the Bradley laying down covering fire, the platoon inside the M113 bug out advance into contact and take out a Russian position.
What I cant understand is, is this is all down to training (and the will to fight for your country) and yet 2 years down the line, knowing exactly where it is deficient regards troops, (especially in light of how it has lost so many of its trained and experienced soldiers) Moscow still hasn’t bothered its arse in training its men. Lets be honest the only thing that is keeping Russia in the game, is, its prepared positions, it’s now replenished ammo situation , (Cruise missiles and drones from Iran , Artillery ammo from North Korea and Ballistic missiles from both)
I suppose.its because Putin doesn’t care about training peasants Farouk, they are disposable minions as far as he is concerned…. Just keep chucking them into the meat grinder.
I hate to say it, but I think Putin has found the West’s weaknesses:
– Lack of military-industrial capacity
– Personnel recruitment/retention problems
– Division and political infighting on the matters of financing/supporting a long war of attrition
Iran, China, and North Korea are watching.
Personally, I don’t think Putin and his band of unmerry men gave that angle much thought. They presumed that the Ukraine special operation would be done and dusted in days (Take your pick from between 3 to 10 ) but as seen, somebody forgot to send that Memo to Kyiv. Instead of Ammunition stocks, Putin set aside a huge cash float to bide Russia by until the West (primarily the EU) decided to let Sleeping Bears lie and carry on normal. Of course, they (The EU) would be encouraged to do so by the threat of turning off the Gas cuts, which Putin had started in 2021 by slowing turning down the flow of Gas resulting in huge price hikes. As we saw, Paris and Berlin were quite reticent to go beyond dirty looks towards Moscow until, it became clear, that this special operation may exactly take a little longer than Putin (and no doubt the vast majority of armchair experts, myself included) presumed. If anything the lack of ammunition capability hit Russia first especially as it took to long range strikes to make up for its inadequate showing on the FEBA (Artillery, Drones and Missiles) which quickly depleted the huge stocks Russia had in place, which then saw it lean on Belarus, South Africa, Iran and now North Korea. Yes Moscow has now ramped up its military industry, but the simple fact remains it is spending around 40% of its GDP on doing so. In contrast the West is spending around 2%, yes it was low to start with and it is still low today and for the foreseeable future , but the West wasn’t on a war time footing and all our politicians since 1991 have been predominantly liberal thinking who subscribe to the view that money is better spent on peace than war which is why the West saw huge cuts in its military spending, even when Russia started rearming around 2000, these politicians decided to overlook the threat by claiming that Moscow just needed to rearm. We saw a similar myopic viewpoint after Putin restarted his Bomber flights towards the West around 2007, after he invaded Georgia, after he went into Syria and of course after he annexed the Crimea. We saw a similar mindset towards Iran, Venezuela ,China where the powers that be didn’t want to upset the applecart. It was Sweden in 2018 which first saw the threat and increased defence spending, Japan did likewise, but the rest just plodded along until 2022, but the strange thing is , whilst everybody has upped their game since, one country has remained wedded to the policy of continuing defence cuts , I give you the United Kingdom.
It’s a fair question- I don’t know the answer. But I’ve seen some interesting reasoning:
For reasons related to not being thrown out of a window, Russian commanders cannot allow major Ukrainian advances, even temporarily, anywhere along their front (which is very long).
Russia’s improvements in training since 2008 (Georgia) have not been as effective as thought, because of corruption and a lack of money to do proper combined arms. Unlike NATO, comms and jamming and weapons systems aren’t deconflicted and commands aren’t integrated- so coordination between air and ground forces, and between different elements within them, gets disrupted by themselves- or they just don’t talk to each other in the first place. This is reflected in how their initial drives in Feb ’22 petered out because they couldn’t sustain and coordinate properly. This has got better; kill chains for artillery and air support have got shorter, logistics has found a way to more or less work, but they’re nowhere near as good as Ukraine’s, let alone NATO.
As you noted, they lost most of their trained personnel in the first 12-18 months of the war, and a lot of the trainers were mobilised from training bases too. So there’re very few people capable of training new recruits to even 2022 levels, either at training bases or in units.
What would make most sense would be to stop trying to take more ground, pull back to a smaller perimeter to defend in greater density, and put new draftees through training to make them more effective. But, commanders are constrained by their fear of windows to even consider doing this; they are forced to put draftees straight into combat just to maintain the status quo- and so great improvements in effectiveness are impossible. And as long as there are marginal advancements, the lack of efficiency is acceptable…
Oh man, that’s like 5 paragraphs of copium.
Hahaha. You have a sample of 3, whereas Russia have destroyed thousands of armour.
Wonderous Stories: wrote:
“”Ha haha. You have a sample of 3, whereas Russia have destroyed thousands of armour.””
That’s a interesting statement,
Watching sky news last night ,report on the Ukraine front line .Showing troops changing Tracks on AFV , it mention that supplies from the EU have slow right down .Starting to look like the West support is getting a bit thin on the ground.Are we going to just let Putin get is way 🤔
Not exactly. Germany and France are increasing production capabilities. Sweeden and Italy are also doing their share. We stop sending reserves, now it’s production stuff. And production is increasing fast. So violence is on the way up and will keep rising in coming years like in all wars, when industrial facilities start to pump what is needed.
The lesson here is: if the democratic nations want to stand up to the belligerence of the autocratic nations then we need to re-industrialise and match the pace of their military production.
And solve the recruitment crisis.
So true, so right…
The U.K. is missing a trick. If it had arranged a lend lease or just put £10-20billion into U.K. made defence products it would have had a real positive effect on the economy. Steel and materials, designs, productions would have improved the economic outlook and had the benefit of helping Ukraine.
The U.K. forces could then of got kit at cheaper prices.
No estimate of the Russian ‘missing’, an integral part of casualty figures – or the ‘captured’ figures.
Good news. One year ago it was over 10k tanks and 500k troops.
I think by the next year the casualty rate will go down even more.
How are your oil refineries doing, oh FSB stooge? LMAO