Russia to Mobilize Half a Million New Troops by 2024 as Both Sides Claim 90,000 Enemy Losses since June 4

 

Photo: Ukrainan Ministry of Defense / Oleg Palchyk

 

Russia has mobilized 357,000 new troops and may muster as many as half a million by year’s end as Ukraine struggles to find new fighting forces. Both sides estimate the enemy has lost about 90,000 men since the start of the Ukrainian Spring counteroffensive June 4.

Ukraine’s armed forces have lost more than 90,000 servicemen killed and wounded during the counteroffensive launched June 4 without achieving any significant battlefield successes, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed, speaking at the 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum.

“Since as recently as 4 June – that is, since the beginning of the widely publicized Ukrainian counteroffensive that has been so generously supported by the West – Kiev has lost more than 90,000 servicemen killed and wounded, about 600 tanks and almost 1,900 armored vehicles of various classes. At the same time, no tactically significant successes have been achieved on the battlefield,” Sergei Shoigu said.

Shoigu accused the US of ignoring Russia’s legitimate security interests, expanding NATO and “forcing” Russia to invade Ukraine.

 

“Disregarding Russia’s legitimate security rights, the White House has persistently pursued the eastward expansion of the NATO bloc it controls”, Shoigu said. “These aggressive moves have forced us to take countermeasures.”

“The West openly took a course on inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia in the hybrid war unleashed against us. Ukraine was cynically chosen as a battering ram, and assigned the role of merely expendable material,” Shoigu stated.

Shoigu warned that the Biden Regime’s “steadily escalating conflict with Russia carries the threat of a direct military clash between the nuclear powers, which is fraught with catastrophic consequences”.

“The US and NATO continue to seriously expect that they will be able to undermine Russia’s security and deprive us of the will to resist”, Shoigu noted.

“But the situation in the special military operation zone demonstrates the futility of these plans’, the Russian Minister of Defence said.

Shoigu called claims Russia wants to escalate toward the use of nuclear weapons “absolutely groundless.”

“Russia’s nuclear doctrine has not changed and still provides for the use of nuclear weapons only in two cases: in response to an enemy nuclear strike or if there is a threat to Russia’s existence, even if conventional weapons are used against it,’ Shoigu said.

On Aug. 4, the Russian Ministry of Defence had claimed the Ukrainian armed forces lost over 43,000 soldiers in June-July. Since then, the weekly casualty figures released by the Russian MoD total 46,564, for a total of 89,564, very close to Shoigu’s estimate of 90,000 Ukrainian losses.

Observers, including Col. Douglas MacGregor and Robert F. Kennedy, had claimed Ukraine had lost approx. 350,000 men before the start of the offensive. That would put Ukrainian losses in the war at 440,000 (killed, wounded, captured, and missing).

Russia claims Ukraine lost 5639 men in the last week, October 21-27, alone, the highest losses since Sept. 2-9 (5955).

The Ukraine Ministry of Defense claims that Russia has lost 299,940 men since the start of the invasion Feb. 24. Before the start of the Spring Counteroffensive June 4, the Ukraine Ministry of Defense put Russian losses at 209,470. That would mean Russian losses of 90,470 since June 4.

Russia is now suffering one of the largest losses of equipment and personnel near Avdiivka in 2023.

It is alleged that the Russians have deployed up to 8 brigades in the area of Avdiivka. These units probably suffered some of the worst losses seen in the Russian army in 2023.… pic.twitter.com/daGVOyTSCl

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) October 28, 2023

Other sources put the number of Russian casualties much lower. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed an 8 to 1 casualty ratio in favor of Russia.

Ukrainian estimates put the number of Russian casualties in the bloody attack on the fortress village of Avdiivka at 5,000, while the US says that Russia lost “at least” 125 armoured vehicles and more than a battalion’s worth of equipment.

Other observers anticipate a Russian “counter-counteroffensive” this fall, as military YouTuber History Legends notes after Russia has mobilized 357,000 volunteers. At that rate, Russia can expect another 120,000 new recruits by the end of the head, putting the fresh Russian forces at half a million. That would put total Russian fighting strength at 750,000.

Ukraine has about 200,000 men under arms and has been struggling to find new recruits for the “Meat Grinder.”