In the war against Ukraine, Russia has lost over 300,000 soldiers and thousands of pieces of equipment. Why doesn’t this stop the Russian Federation?
Ukrainian Defense Forces have eliminated over 300,000 Russian soldiers.
The situation on the front remains challenging: despite significant losses, the Russian army daily attacks Ukrainian positions, says Lieutenant General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
For any civilized country, the level of losses suffered by the Russians would be colossal and would lead to the end of the war, says LIGA.net’s editor-in-chief of Defense Express, Serhiy Zghurets. But it doesn’t work with Russia.
Why there isn’t a psychological limit that could influence the Russian Federation – in short.
What happened: On October 31, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the losses of the Russian army in Ukraine have exceeded 300,000 individuals. Despite this, the occupiers are advancing in the areas of Kupiansk, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Maryinka, and Staromykhailivka.
There were 36 clashes along the front line within a day.
In October, the majority of Russian losses were concentrated in the Avdiivka direction – over 7,000 individuals in the last two and a half weeks, said spokesman for the Joint Press Center of the Defense Forces of the Tavria Direction, Colonel Oleksandr Shtupun to LIGA.net. More than 500 of them occurred within the last day.
At the same time, the Russians do not abandon attempts to encircle Avdiivka. The situation is complex but under control, emphasized Shtupun.
During the day, Ukrainian defenders repelled five attacks in the areas of Avdiivka, Tonenke, and Pervomaiske. Over 15 attacks were repelled in the areas of Maryinka and Novomykhailivka. An attempted assault by the Russian army in the Staromykhailivka region was also thwarted.
On the Lyman-Kupiansk direction, the Russians maintain significant activity, as reported by the Head of Public Relations Service of the Ground Forces Command, Volodymyr Fityo.
“During the day, the enemy conducted eight air strikes and 16 strikes with kamikaze drones,” Fityo recounted. “There were also 736 shelling incidents, including four from MLRS, 67 artillery, and 156 mortar attacks.”
The losses of the occupants in the direction amounted to 112 military personnel.
In the Bahmut area, the enemy has significantly reinforced its units and transitioned from defense to active operations, as reported by the Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Oleksandr Sirsky.
For any civilized country, such losses would be colossal.
“In a civilized world, they would either lead to the cessation of hostilities, or the country’s population would have significant claims and would overthrow the leadership that sacrifices the country’s population in an imperialistic war,” he explains.
However, even 300,000 deaths are not a psychological threshold that will have resonating consequences for Russia. On one hand – propaganda; on the other – poverty of Russians allows Russian leadership either to intimidate and send people to the front, or to recruit people who are ready to die in war thanks to military payments, says Zgurets.
Each month, Russia conscripts at least 20,000 people into the army. “Losses are compensated as best as they can: prisoners, forced mobilization, conscripts, contractors,” says the representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, Andriy Chernyak. A large-scale mobilization has not yet been announced.
Thus, these plans don’t affect Russia’s plans to destroy Ukraine – they’re trying to advance simultaneously on several fronts.
On the Lyman-Kupyansk direction, the enemy is adapting, clarifies Fityo: “They are economizing on the equipment, but are sending assault units into battle.”
A similar situation is observed on the Tavria direction – the Defense Forces have destroyed a considerable amount of enemy equipment, so it is being used more cautiously, says Shtupun: “Whether this is due to the formation of a new striking force or if they indeed have little equipment left, it’s hard to say.”
Instead, after three days of relative calm, the enemy’s attack aviation has significantly intensified along the front line. Particularly, in the past day on the Tavria direction, the occupiers carried out 21 air strikes.
WHAT’S NEXT. It’s unlikely that there will be a loss indicator that will be psychologically significant for Russians, says Zgurets. The continuity of the top command officer corps in the enemy’s army contributes to this.
“There is no more sergeant and officer staff at the level of platoon and battalion commanders in the Russian army; it’s renewed in a circle since people constantly perish,” explains Zgurets. These positions are either filled by former officers or students who are prematurely graduated from universities.
Senior officers, from corps commanders and up, retain their positions.
“Generals who caused illogical actions on the front and significant personnel losses remained in their positions. They lead operational directions or are deputy ministers,” explains Zgurets. “The stability of these generals reproduces the repetition of Russian strategy, where the number of losses is irrelevant.”
Russian command is based on the fact that potentially mobilizable resources are four times higher in Russia than in Ukraine. Therefore, they can continue to disregard the value of human life.
“Fear and poverty are the stimuli present in the Russian population. These are the two factors shaping Russia’s mobilization resources,” emphasizes Zgurets. “So, they will continue to go to the front, either hoping to earn something before they die, or out of fear that they will be killed by their own.”