Russia losing 6,000 more troops in Ukraine than it can recruit each month, says west

Moscow recruits an estimated 1,000 people a day but western officials say it cannot keep up with casualty level Russia is losing about 6,000 more troops in Ukraine each month than it can recruit, western officials have said. While Russia is still acquiring new battlefield recruits at speed, with an estimated rate of 1,000 a day, in the last two months even this has not been sufficient to replace those killed or injured. “We estimate that the gap between the number of people Russia is losing to casualties and the number they’re being able to recruit is around 6,000 a month at the moment,” one western official said. “Putin’s response to this has been to escalate himself and to target civilian infrastructure and civilians in Ukraine, firing over 360 missiles since early July and exploiting Kyiv’s shortage of defence against ballistic missiles. It is also unclear whether the Russian military could absorb the several hundred thousand new recruits which would result, given a lack of equipment and officers.

Missing media or need the complete publisher report? Open The Guardian World ↗