Jonathan Sweet and Mark Toth
In October 2022, we warned that Russian President Vladmir Putin was willing to exchange more than 300,000 Russian coffins for a modern-day empire in Ukraine. Tragically, we were not wrong.
If anything, we underestimated Putin’s preparedness to kill and maim as many Russian, Chechen, North Korean, Cuban and Chinese soldiers and conscripts as needed to achieve his Peter the Great-like realm. Today, Russian casualties in Ukraine surpassed one million, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
No matter how willing Putin is, his meat grinder tactics are not militarily sustainable. In April, Gen. Christopher Cavoli, dual hatted as Commander, United States European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, testified before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee that the Russian military can likely only sustain its current operations for about 12 to 24 more months.
At the current rate of daily casualties for the Russian and their allies — about 1,200 a day — that translates to another 438,000 to 876,000 Russian casualties. The Kremlin continues to feed the Ukrainian meat-grinder with little regard for its soldiers. As Cavoli would go on and say, “Russian commanders still emphasize quantity and mass over skill and operational acumen.”
Ukrainian defenders have become quite efficient in killing and wounding Russian soldiers — or those dressed for the part — but they come back the next day, along the same avenues of approach, with the same result, gaining just a few meters of territory in exchange for appalling numbers of dead and wounded.
Despite President President Trump saying, “It’s time to stop this madness, it’s time to halt the killing, it’s time to end this senseless war,” Putin continues to attack along the frontlines and with daily bombardments of Ukrainian cities with drones, ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles. Meanwhile, Ukraine continues its valiant defense.
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