Russian forces are suffering a staggering 1,000 daily troop deaths following Ukraine’s surprise incursion into the western Kursk region, it has been claimed.
More than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers bombarded the Russian border earlier this month and ever since, Vladimir Putin has seen his forces suffer huge losses as Kyiv continues to seize large chunks of territory.
The Ukrainian army said that the Russians lost 1,190 soldiers on Saturday alone.
An unnamed Western official claimed: “Russia is losing more now than it is able to recruit,” believing Moscow will be unable to ramp up its recruitment drive to counter the loss of life.
Heavy casualties among special forces and other experienced units during the war so far have increasingly forced Vladimir Putin to offer felons pardons, immigrants legal residence, and non-ethnic Russians sign-up bonuses in return for service in the army.
He told The Daily Express: “The Ukrainians noticed their positions were undermanned because the troops had been shifted to the Donbas, and in very short order, they pushed the Russians out of all their positions in northern Ukraine that they had taken in the aftermath of the initial invasion.
“The effect on the Russian military, I think, has been very detrimental. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin said probably two years ago now, that Putin was feeding his army into a wood chipper, and that’s what they’ve continued to do.”
Lieutenant-General Ben Hodges, who was commander of US forces in Europe, said the swift collapse of the Russian defenses in Kursk was due to young conscripts being deployed to the border region.
Within days of the incursion, Kyiv’s forces had captured hundreds of the young conscripts as prisoners of war. Russia has deployed the young Russian conscripts with no experience of a warzone in Kursk – and did not expect them to be involved in a frontline fight.
Lt-General Hodges told Times Radio: “You’ve got a mix of border guards, national guard, FSB and regular army and local authorities, and it’s not clear who’s responsible. And of course, the reaction has been unsurprisingly somewhat chaotic.”