Russian Combat Deaths Top 320,000... "Most Since World War II"

Over 30,000 Casualties Each Month
9 Trillion Won Spent on Recruitment Bonuses Last Year

On the 8th (local time), military training for civilians is taking place at a training ground in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP Yonhap News

The number of Russian soldiers killed in Russia's invasion of Ukraine has exceeded 320,000. It is estimated to be the largest loss of manpower since World War II.

According to the Financial Times (FT) on the 10th (local time), the number of Russian military deaths compiled by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reached at least 325,000. FT analyzed that this is five times higher than the combined number of deaths in all the wars in which the former Soviet Union and Russia participated after World War II. Recently, as more than 30,000 Russian casualties have been occurring every month on major fronts in Ukraine, manpower losses have been snowballing.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) in particular are causing massive personnel losses. According to Western intelligence agencies, including Latvia, 70% to 80% of casualties on both the Russian and Ukrainian sides have been caused by drone strikes. Nevertheless, analysts say that the number of casualties continues to rise as the Russian military keeps pressing offensives using human-wave tactics.

Fear of the war is also driving a growing number of Russian soldiers to desert. According to data from the United Kingdom's Defence Intelligence (DI), cases of desertion and related offenses such as unauthorized absence among Russian troops exceeded 20,000 last year. It is estimated that more than 1,000 desertions are occurring per day. Analysts say desertions are increasing further as the Russian military focuses its offensives on using infantry and light vehicles in an attempt to reduce equipment losses.

The burden of bonus payments for recruitment is also gradually increasing. According to the FT, the amount paid to soldiers as recruitment bonuses by the Russian military last year was at least 500 billion rubles (about 950 billion won), equivalent to 0.5% of Russia's gross domestic product (GDP). With military spending already reaching 10% of GDP due to the prolonged war, the fiscal burden is growing even heavier.

Experts point out that the Russian government's conscription capacity will soon reach its limit. Michael Kofman, a researcher at the Carnegie Endowment, told the FT, "Due to a prolonged and cumulative economic downturn, the budget for compensating and supporting soldiers is being exhausted, making recruitment increasingly difficult," adding, "It has now become hard for Russian President Vladimir Putin's approach to achieve any meaningful breakthrough at the front."