Kathrine Frich
Russia is losing more soldiers than it can recruit,
The shortfall is said to be slowing Moscow’s battlefield ambitions, even as fighting remains intense.
Recruitment gap
Russia lost around 9,000 more troops in January than it was able to deploy to the front.
The report says Ukrainian forces have increased pressure by targeting manpower, aiming to inflict higher losses than the Kremlin can replenish.
Bloomberg previously reported that about 35,000 Russian soldiers were killed in December, roughly matching the number of new recruits that month.
By January, however, the balance had turned negative.
Western officials told the agency that Russian forces made no significant territorial gains in January despite sustaining heavy losses.
At the current rate of advance, it could take Moscow up to two years to fully seize the Donetsk region, according to the estimates cited by Bloomberg.
Battlefield pressure
Journalist Alex Wickham wrote for Bloomberg that the figures indicate “Ukraine still has the upper hand in the negotiations,” challenging narratives that portray a Russian victory as inevitable.
Ukraine’s General Staff has said Russia’s mounting casualties reflect effective defensive operations that limit Moscow’s offensive capacity.
Deutsche Welle, citing a NATO representative, reported that total
Russian military losses since the start of the full-scale invasion have reached 1.3 million, including 400,000 soldiers killed or wounded last year alone.
Controversial measures
Separately, the Russian outlet Vyorstka reported that authorities have pressured orphans by linking access to state-provided housing to participation in what Moscow calls its “special military operation.”
In some instances, officials allegedly indicated that apartments would be allocated to a “participant in a special military operation,” even when another person had legal priority.
The Kremlin has not publicly commented on the reported recruitment gap.
Sources: Bloomberg, Deutsche Welle, WP.
