Half a million Russians killed in Ukraine war, British intelligence says

Half a million Russian soldiers have been killed in Vladimir Putin's full-scale war against Ukraine, according to British military intelligence.

Western officials, however, said they saw no indication that the heavy toll of the war - in terms of Russian lives lost as well as a growing impact on the Russian economy - had changed the president's goal of seeking to force Ukraine under Moscow's sphere of influence.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton, the head of the UK armed forces, said the total number of casualties suffered by Russia, including those wounded, is thought to be 1.5 million troops since February 2022.

The vast majority of the losses were incurred since January 2023 - in return for Russia gaining a mere 2% of Ukrainian territory, he said.

"I think these numbers illustrate clearly the senseless and futile waste of human life for such little progress, and against such an illegitimate aim of President Putin," the chief of the defence staff said in a prepared statement to journalists.

Referring to the half a million Russian personnel who are dead, he said: "So that means that's half a million photographs hanging on the walls in devastated, darkened homes about Russia. That means half a million families will never see their father, their son, their brother, or husband again."

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It has been 1,660 days since Moscow launched its full-scale war, meaning that Russian forces have been fighting in Ukraine for longer than Russia's participation in both the first and second world wars.

Air Chief Marshal Knighton also described how the war has taken its toll on the Russian economy.

It has "resulted in slowing growth in Russia, weakening consumer demand and stubbornly high inflation, and the cost of Russia's economy and its people's prosperity and prospects are enormous", he said.

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