The UK Ministry of Defence estimates that 450,000 Russian military personnel have been killed or wounded and over 10,000 Russian armored vehicles have been destroyed in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022, according to a recent report by the UK Defence Journal citing Leo Docherty, Minister of State for the Armed Forces.
When asked questions regarding Russian army casualties in Ukraine by UK Shadow Defense Secretary John Healey, Docherty responded with the following:
“We estimate that approximately 450,000 Russian military personnel have been killed or wounded, and tens of thousands more have already deserted since the start of the conflict. The number of personnel killed serving in Russian private military companies (PMCs) is not clear.
We also estimate that over 10,000 Russian armoured vehicles, including nearly 3,000 main battle tanks, 109 fixed wing aircraft, 136 helicopters, 346 unmanned aerial vehicles, 23 naval vessels of all classes, and over 1,500 artillery systems of all types have been destroyed, abandoned, or captured by Ukraine since the start of the conflict.”
In February, The New York Times, citing a source in the Pentagon, estimated the losses of the Russian Armed Forces killed and wounded in Ukraine at 300,000. According to the report, the Russian military is attempting to put the wounded back into service as quickly as possible, without taking into account their physical capabilities.
A week ago, using open-source data, the BBC Russian Service calculated the median life expectancy of a Russian prisoner mobilized for the war. According to the BBC’s calculations, 50% of former prisoners died by the third month of service in the Wagner PMC. Convicts have an even smaller life expectancy — just two months — in similar detachments, “Storm Z” and “Storm V,” which operate under the control of the Russian Defense Ministry.