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The Russian army is facing its highest rate of losses during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine so far, with over 70,000 soldiers likely killed or wounded in May and June, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.
The increase in losses is connected to Russia opening its new front in the Kharkiv region while maintaining the same pressure rate over the entire 1,000-kilometer front line in the east and south of Ukraine, the ministry said in its daily update.
“Although this new approach has increased pressure on the front lines an effective Ukrainian defense and a lack of Russian training reduces Russia’s ability to exploit any tactical successes despite attempting to stretch the frontline further,” the statement said.
Russia’s casualty rate will likely continue at an average of about 1,000 soldiers a day over the next two months, the defense ministry predicted, as Russia continues to try to overmatch Ukrainian positions with mass. Russians have been slowly pushing forward against Ukrainian forces in the Donetsk region at the price of great losses.
Ukraine does not reveal the exact numbers of its war losses, but the ratio at the war front is one Ukrainian soldier to six Russians, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview to The Philadelphia Inquirer last month.
The Russian government also does not reveal official losses in its war against Ukraine, however last week The Economist reported 462,000 and 728,000 Russian soldiers were out of action by mid-June — more than Russia’s estimated invading force in February 2022.
One Russian regional government has started offering finder’s fees to residents who convince friends and family to fight in Ukraine.
