Russia Already has Far More Veterans of Ukraine War than Kremlin Admits, Danish Expert Says, and That Means Their Impact will Be Far Greater

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 27 – The Kremlin has not released timely and accurate figures about the number of veterans who have returned alive or returned dead from the war in Ukraine. Its one attempt to give a figure, last December, suggested that there were just over 400,000 living veterans now back in the Russian Federation.

            Russian specialists on military manpower tell Sonia Richter, a Danish journalist, that that number of certainly too low and that the total number of veterans now returning home may be as large as 800,000, with many of the 700,000 Russian soldiers still in Ukraine yet to come (novayagazeta.eu/articles/2026/07/27/nevidimye-veterany).

            That means that the impact of returning veterans on Russian social and political life will be far larger than almost anyone has suggested. Even if only a small percentage turn to a life of crime or join repressive agencies or groups, there will still be more of them doing so than most analysts have concluded up to now.

            That is because five percent of 800,000 or even 1.5 million is far larger than five percent of 400,000, the figure that Russian officials and propagandists routinely cite. As Russians face up to this enormous influx, they will be even more alarmed and angry about what Putin has wrought in Ukraine.

            Because in this way, even more than with the drone attacks, the Kremlin leader’s war will be coming home to them in spades, not only now but well into the future. Indeed, the figures Richter has assembled suggest that the impact of veterans may be comparable to that of veterans groups in other countries that have gone to war over an extended period.