More Russians have died in Ukraine than have been killed in war since World War II combined: study

Russia’s combat death toll in the first year of its war on neighboring Ukraine has now likely exceeded the total death toll in all of its wars since World War II, according to new research from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

CSIS preparation The number of Russians dead or missing in Ukraine since last February is between 60,000 and 70,000, a figure that tracks with recent British intelligence.

The second highest recorded population was up to 16,000 in Russia’s wars in Chechnya in the 1990s and up to 25,000 in the Soviet Union’s involvement in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Including casualties, the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that Russia suffered as many as 250,000 casualties in the final year of the war.

The report found that “while some types of authoritarian regimes are willing to accept large losses in interstate conflicts, the numbers of Russian casualties are unprecedented since World War II.”

The report notes that the number of Russian soldiers killed in the first year of the Ukraine war is about two to five times the number of casualties in nearly 15 years of fighting in Chechnya.

“The Ukrainian army did remarkably well against a much larger and better-equipped Russian army initially,” the study says, suggesting that Kiev’s success was due in part to “military innovation” facilitated by “a military environment that encourages and enables junior officers to seek innovation.” .

Russia’s war on Ukraine passed its one-year anniversary earlier this month, after President Biden made a surprise trip to Kiev to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and reassure continued US support.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights recently estimated that at least 8,000 civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine.

A senior Zelensky adviser said last December that as many as 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in action.