‘At a Minimum,’ Russia has Lost 20 Times as Many Killed in Action in Ukraine over the Last Four Years as the USSR Lost in Afghanistan over Ten, Zhelenin Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Feb. 8 – Recent evaluations of losses in Putin’s war in Ukraine show that, “at a minimum,” Russia has lost 20 times as many killed in action there over the last four years than did the USSR in Afghanistan, over the ten years its invasion forces were in that country, 300,000 KIAs now as opposed to 15,000 then, Aleksandr Zhelenin says.

            A major reason for this, the opposition journalist and commentator says, is that Russian commanders are even less concerned about human losses than were their Soviet predecessors and do not have the mix of weapons that would help them keep such losses low (mostmedia.org/ru/posts/za-chetyre-goda-rossia-poterjala-v-ukraine-v-20-raz-bolshe-ljudey-chem-sssr-za-10-let-v-afganistane).

            Both because they recognize fewer reserves to raise more troops in the event of losses and for humanitarian considerations as well, constraints that Russian officers do not appear to feel as deeply, Ukrainian commanders have worked far harder and with significant success to keep losses lower.

            Zhelenin’s analysis is striking because while the Soviet army was notorious for its lack of concern about human losses as long as it achieved its goals, the Russian army is even worse as far as this measure is concerned, yet another way that Putin’s Russia is moving in a very different direction than most countries.

            But it also means something else: not only will Russia have to cope with the problems of veterans returning from service where their lives were not considered that important by their officers and their political bosses but it will have to deal with the impact of such enormous losses and the reasons for them on the population of the country as a whole.