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The rate of casualties accelerated last year as inexperienced troops arrived on the front lines.
According to BBC, Russian units has been counting deaths since Moscow’s forces invaded the neighbouring state in February 2022, revealed the number on Wednesday, noting that the rate of casualties accelerated in the second year of the conflict.
The tally, compiled by BBC Russian, independent media group Mediazona and volunteers saw the death toll rise to 27,300 Russian soldiers during the second year of the war, a 25 percent increase on the first year.
The only official death toll released by Russia said in September 2022 that just under 6,000 of its soldiers had been killed.
‘Meat grinder’
The research notes that Moscow’s use of “meat grinder” tactics is likely to have accelerated the loss rate of troops last year.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) points out that as the front line in eastern Ukraine became bogged down in 2023, battleground tactics deteriorated into sending waves of troops in frontal assaults.
That saw Russian losses spike during large-scale offensives in Donetsk, the BBC investigation says, and again months later during the battle to take the city of Bakhmut.
The BBC estimates at least two in five of Russia’s dead fighters had nothing to do with the military before the invasion, being drawn from the ranks of volunteers, civilians and prisoners, and therefore struggled for technical and tactical expertise.
The analysis notes about 9,000 prisoners, recruited either through the Wagner mercenary outfit or directly by the Ministry of Defence, were killed in the invasion. These recruits survived an average of two to three months.
Ukraine said in February that it had lost 31,000 soldiers. That figure is also widely thought likely to be lower than the true toll.
Responding to the report, the Kremlin said it did not disclose information on military deaths and casualties, which falls under the remit of the defence ministry.
According to AFP, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that due to laws covering official secrets of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine it is “absolutely understandable” that the ministry did not release the figures.
Meanwhile: War Cannot Solve Problems,’ India’s PM Modi Tells Russia’s Putin
Putin – speaking before Modi at a televised meeting at the Kremlin on Tuesday – said their two countries enjoyed a “special strategic partnership” and praised the Indian leader for his efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.
“I thank you for the attention you are paying to the most acute problems, including trying to find ways to resolve the Ukrainian crisis – above all by peaceful means, of course,” said Putin.
India has become an increasingly important partner for sanctions-hit Russia as it shifts its trade away from the West and seeks to demonstrate that Western attempts to isolate it have failed.
New Delhi has refrained from criticising Russia over the war and has increased its purchases of cheap Russian oil to record levels, while urging Ukraine and Russia to resolve their conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.
“As a friend, I have also said for the brighter future of our next generation, peace is of utmost importance,” Modi said in Hindi, sitting alongside Putin. “When innocent children are murdered, one sees them die, the heart pains and that pain is unbearable.”
The Indian leader’s comments come a day after a lethal strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv, just one of a series of attacks that killed 37 people in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned India’s prime minister for visiting Russia, calling the trip a “devastating blow to peace efforts”.
“It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day,” Zelenskyy wrote in a message on social media.
In Ukraine today, 37 people were killed, three of whom were children, and 170 were injured, including 13 children, as a result of Russia’s brutal missile strike.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 8, 2024
A Russian missile struck the largest children's hospital in Ukraine, targeting young cancer patients. Many were… pic.twitter.com/V1k7PEz2rJ
Modi, making his first trip to Russia since 2019, hopes to strengthen energy and defence cooperation with Russia, which India depends on for much of its military equipment and oil.
But the Indian leader must walk a careful line to not alienate Western powers he is also courting that are sceptical of the relationship.
On Tuesday, Modi said he appreciated Putin’s leadership and described India’s relationship with Moscow as one of “mutual trust and mutual respect”.
He pointed to Russian manufacturing and energy as boosts to India’s economy, helping to create jobs for youth and tame fuel prices.
In one sign of further cooperation, Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom announced it is in discussions to potentially build six more nuclear power units in India.
Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, said India’s delegation is also likely to “discuss a long-term agreement on the supply of oil from Russia to India at discounted prices”.
Putin and Modi are also expected to discuss broader trade development, including intentions to develop a maritime corridor between India’s major port of Chennai and Vladivostok, the gateway to Russia’s Far East.
India-Russia trade has seen a sharp increase, touching close to $65bn in the 2023-24 financial year, because of strong energy cooperation, according to Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra.
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