Russian losses

 Russian losses

“At least 315,000 Russian forces have either been killed or wounded” during the ongoing war in Ukraine, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Friday morning. That’s the same estimate leaked to Reuters in December, citing declassified U.S. intelligence. One year ago, that estimate was closer to 180,000.

 Russia has not sustained so many casualties in combat since the Second World War. Indeed, Moscow’s military had already suffered more combat deaths in Ukraine during the first 12 months than in all of its wars since World War II combined, as the Center for Strategic and International Studies pointed out one year ago.

Ukrainian forces have also sunk, destroyed or damaged at least 20 medium to large Russian navy vessels and one Russian-flagged tanker in the Black Sea. “I think it’s important to look at the story of the Black Sea,” the official said Friday, because Ukraine has significantly eroded Russian naval power and that in turn has increased the dependability of Ukrainian grain exports.

In terms of economics, “Russia has probably spent up to $211 billion dollars in direct financial outlays to equip, deploy, maintain and sustain Russian operations in Ukraine” to date, the official said. The war has also cost Russia an estimated $10 billion in postponed or canceled arms sales and $1.3 trillion in previously anticipated economic growth through 2026.