The war in Ukraine has now entered its 900th day, despite the initial prediction by Russian President Vladimir Putin that his ‘special military operation’ would last only three days.
The UK’s MOD and the US Department of Defence believe that in the 900 days of fighting, Russia has spent an estimated $211bn (£163bn) on the invasion and attempted conquest of Ukraine, despite not yet succeeding in reaching Kyiv.
The MOD said: “Russia planned to surround Kyiv within three days, bring down the government and conquer most of Ukraine in less than a month.”
Since May 2024, however, Russia has suffered around 1,000 casualties each day.
It is thought that the country has lost more than half a million troops during the invasion, which began on 24 February 2022.
Spitzspot ( @Spitzspot@lemmings.world ) 19•29 days agoMaybe they should pull their forces back into Russia. They seem to have left their backsides open.
thejml ( @thejml@lemm.ee ) English11•29 days agoSeems like there should be a cheaper way to cull the population of Russia, but I guess I’m not that experienced with that sort of thing.
hitmyspot ( @hitmyspot@aussie.zone ) 9•29 days agoAllowing HIV to run rampant has played a separate part of making Russian life tough.
JCPhoenix ( @JCPhoenix@beehaw.org ) English6•29 days agoI thought alcoholism would be it. And someone would be at least making money off it (sans bootlegging).
We’re being flippant, but god, what a waste of human potential. Absolutely pointless war.
Mind Ya Beez Wax ( @mindyabeesnes@beehaw.org ) English7•29 days agoThis must be so demoralizing for Russians who didn’t even want to fight the war on the first place.
petrescatraian ( @petrescatraian@libranet.de ) 7•29 days ago@tardigrada It sure was a successful campaign after all that goalpost moving that Putler did ever since the invasion began.
Greg Clarke ( @Greg@lemmy.ca ) English2•29 days agoWhere are you getting that 500K killed number from? That’s a lot higher than any legitimate sources
geekwithsoul ( @geekwithsoul@lemm.ee ) English7•29 days ago“…The Economist reported 462,000 and 728,000 Russian soldiers were out of action by mid-June”
https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-army-lost-70k-soldiers-ukraine-war-uk-defense-ministry/
Now that’s both killed and wounded, and based on analysis of leaked docs from US DoD. How much is any of it true? Probably will know in 50 years or so, but whatever the exact number is, it’s likely more than they’ve lost in all military actions combined since WWII.