Russia has lost 650,000 troops, including killed and wounded, in the war against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Times of India, published on Oct. 28.
Over 690,000 Russian military personnel were put out of action since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, according to the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces. Besides the wounded and killed, this figure also includes those who were captured.
Estonian intelligence estimated that Russia could lose up to 40,000 personnel in October.
"Russia itself has killed a lot of Russians. A lot of mobilized Russian soldiers were killed by the Russian army itself because they were afraid to attack, to perish under the bullets, or to be wounded. So, they retreated and then were killed by their army," Zelensky told Times of India.
"This is their law of war," Zelensky said.
Zelensky added that Russia also does not pick up its dead soldiers from the battlefield, leaving their bodies to rot on the ground.
Speaking about the situation at the front, the president said that in eastern Ukraine, the Russian army is advancing by employing human attack waves, "throwing its soldiers into a meat grinder."
In recent months, Russian troops have been conducting a grinding advance in eastern Ukraine, making territorial gains while incurring heavy losses.
Russian troops set their sights on Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar, among other targets, with the latter located on a higher ground, after capturing Avdiivka in February. The higher ground could give Russian troops a key strategic advantage in attacks on other towns in Donetsk Oblast.
Francis Farrell
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