Russia losing 1,500 soldiers a day, claims UK army chief

Daily death toll at its highest since the start of war in Ukraine

- TOM WATLING

Russian daily losses on the front line in Ukraine are the highest they have been since Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion nearly three years ago, the UK army chief has claimed.

Sir Tony Radakin told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that Russian forces were suffering 1,500 casualties a day and were nearing the 700,000 mark for the total killed and wounded since February 2022. He described the cost of the war to the Russian people as “extraordinary”.

“[This is] the enormous pain and suffering that the Russian nation is having to bear because of Putin’s ambition,” said Sir Tony. Previous Western estimates over the past few months have put Russia’s daily toll of dead and wounded at around 1,200, which at the time was also the highest rate of losses of the war.

Sir Tony did not say how UK officials had calculated the Russian casualty figures, but such losses tend to occur when one side is on the offensive. He added there was “no doubt that Russia is making tactical, territorial gains and that is putting pressure on Ukraine”, though he added that the losses were only “tiny increments of land”.

Since capturing the eastern Ukrainian city of Adviivka, in the Donetsk region, in February this year, Russian forces have taken more than 300 square miles of territory in that area, advancing towards the city of Pokrovsk, a linchpin of the region’s defence.