Russia bleeds

The trend further reduces the chances of a breakthrough on the front lines that Russian President Vladimir Putin desires, the prestigious newspaper added, with parts of the text reported by Index.

Fewer soldiers, more deserters

Stanislav Krasilnikov / Sputnik / Profimedia

Stanislav Krasilnikov / Sputnik / Profimedia

Ukraine is also facing a manpower shortage, which has forced it to cede territory in certain parts of the front in order to repel Russian attacks elsewhere.

Russia, by contrast, has a much larger population, giving it a significantly wider pool of potential recruits.

Although Moscow formally meets recruitment targets of around 35,000 people per month, as much as 90 percent of new recruits in 2025 were sent solely to replace those killed or wounded, Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, said recently.

Russian authorities claim that last year they recruited 422,704 people and have set similar targets for 2026.

Advances measured in meters, losses in hundreds of thousands

Ashley Chan / Zuma Press / Profimedia

In December, Putin told military commanders that the conquest of four partially occupied Ukrainian regions was “going according to plan.” However, according to estimates from Western and Ukrainian sources reported by the Financial Times, Russian forces are achieving that progress more slowly and at higher losses than at any other stage of the war so far.

The most prominent Russian offensives, since Moscow gained the initiative on the front in 2024, are advancing at just 15 to 70 meters per day.

This pace is slower than in almost any war of the past 100 years, according to a January report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

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According to that report, at least 325,000 Russian soldiers have been killed so far in the war—five times more than in all Russian and Soviet wars combined since World War II. That number is at least twice as high as Ukrainian losses.

However, these losses have increased further in recent months. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated last week that between 30,000 and 35,000 Russian soldiers are killed or severely wounded each month.

Similar estimates come from Western officials, who also note that these losses are irreplaceable. “If this continues, in just a few months they could lose 100,000 to 120,000 soldiers on the front line. That shortage will not be easily filled,” Zelensky said.

A front becoming increasingly deadly

Shutterstock/ivosar

The intensive drone warfare that has marked the past year of the conflict has further complicated Russian forces’ ability to capture territory without sustaining heavy losses.

According to a report from the Latvian foreign intelligence service last month, drones are responsible for 70 to 80 percent of the killed and wounded on both sides.

Russian commanders, the report adds, are pushing their forces toward incremental gains at ever-increasing costs, said a former Ukrainian officer who leads Frontelligence Insight.

“They are pushing their resources far beyond reasonable limits, leading to losses that could often have been avoided,” he said.

In modern warfare conditions, he added, a much larger portion of those losses becomes irrecoverable.