The Kremlin’s “meat” strategy: Russia suffers record losses and resorts to extreme measures to hold the front
14 July 11:00
While the world talks about the slow pace of the Russian army’s advance in Ukraine, the Kremlin is burning its most valuable military resource in this war. In three years, Russia has lost the backbone of its professional army, replacing it with prisoners, migrants and foreign mercenaries. The scale of losses is beyond comparison with any other military campaign in modern Russia. And the summer offensive, which the Kremlin presented to its military as a “last ditch effort,” turned out to be the deadliest stage of the war for Russia. The Economist, a reputable British publication, writes about this, citing its own analysis of the situation at the front and the testimony of Russian prisoners. The problems of the summer offensive were also outlined by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who states that the Russian army has fallen far behind its plans. Why did the summer offensive turn out to be the bloodiest and did not bring the Kremlin any strategic success? To what extent do the scale of Russian military losses differ from other modern conflicts? How do such losses affect Russia’s future military plans – in the article "Komersant Ukrainian"
According to The Economist, since the beginning of May, when Moscow intensified hostilities, Russia could have lost up to 31,000 soldiers. And this is not counting equipment. In total, from February 24, 2022, to July 14, 2025, the Armed Forces of Ukraine killed more than 1 million 35 thousand Russian soldiers, according to the General Staff.
Analysts emphasize that despite significant human resources and fierce assaults, Russia has not made tangible progress. The offensive continues at an average rate of only 15 square kilometers per day, which is about the size of Los Angeles Airport.
“Russia still cannot boast of success. Even with delays in American aid, Ukraine continues to hold the line,” The Economist says.
It is specified that over the past year , Moscow has paid with one life for advancing by 0.038 square kilometers. At this rate, Russia will need 89 years to fully occupy Ukraine. Even reaching only the territories that Putin claims-the remaining parts of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions-would take at least until February 2029.
The Army of Meat: A Return to Zhukovism
The war against Ukraine has become the bloodiest of all the conflicts in which the Russian Federation has participated since the collapse of the USSR. According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the total combat losses of the Russian Federation exceeded 1 million people. At the same time, more than 62 thousand Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in the Kursk region last year alone.
“I would like to note that over the past 34 years of its existence, the Russian Federation has participated in various armed conflicts, but there have been no such catastrophic losses as in the war with Ukraine. Transnistria, the two Chechen campaigns, the war against Georgia – all these wars cannot be compared to the losses in the war against Ukraine,” emphasizes military expert Dmitry Snegirev.
The Kremlin’s leadership relies on numerical superiority and does not count losses. The tactics are reminiscent of the brutal patterns of World War II, when thousands of unprepared people were thrown into breakthroughs.
“The Russian Federation uses tactics from the Second World War, known as ‘Zhukovshchina’. Or what the Russians themselves call ‘we will not stand for the price, women will give birth’. The total mobilization reserve of the occupying country is about 20 million,” explains Snegirev.
The expert adds that to say that the Russian command values the lives of its own servicemen is completely contrary to the nature of the fighting, namely the tactics of “meat assaults” or “banzai attacks.”
Kindrativka: what a “banzai attack” looks like in practice
An example of ruthless tactics was the Russian attack near Kindrativka in Sumy region. Despite minor tactical advances, the price of such an assault is the complete destruction of manpower.
“Where there were some tactical successes, the occupiers suffered significant losses in manpower. According to the Russian side itself, only 8 of the 100 attack aircraft that took part in the attack on the positions of the Ukrainian Defense Forces survived. And they were thrown back to the front line to be utilized,” says Snegiryov.
In the Kursk region, the situation is even more tragic for the occupiers. According to official information, in the Kursk group’s operational area alone, the Russians have lost more than 62,000 soldiers.
The elite has been destroyed: The Kremlin has lost the backbone of the army
Over the three years of war, Russia has lost its most trained units: paratroopers, marines, special forces, and pilots. Their place was taken by less trained and often random people.
“Russia’s losses include the Special Forces brigades of the General Staff, airborne divisions, special operations forces, pilots and marines. These are the units that make up the core of the army. Years and millions of dollars were spent on their training. Today they have been destroyed,” Snegiryov said.
In some parts of the frontline, Russian losses are measured in thousands per month. For example, in January 2025 alone , more than 7,000 Russian soldiers were killed in the Pokrovske direction, which is more than during the entire Second Chechen War, Snegiryov cites.
A symbol of the decline in combat capability is an FSB regiment at the front
Due to a critical shortage of trained soldiers, the Kremlin has begun to deploy even FSB units to the front, a special service that is not traditionally designed to conduct full-fledged combat operations.
“The occupiers have a lot of cannon fodder. There are practically no combat units left. And the last vivid example is the transfer of an FSB regiment to the Kramatorsk front. This was a fat line under the combat capability of the armed forces of the Russian Federation,” emphasizes Snegiryov.
After the failure of the assaults , the Kremlin resorted to replacing its losses with prisoners, labor migrants, and even foreign mercenaries – citizens of the DPRK, Sudan, Somalia, and Nepal. The expert recalls that on the day of Prigozhin’s so-called “mutiny,” Putin signed a decree allowing people convicted of certain crimes to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry. That is, prisoners.
“If earlier such a special contingent was recruited personally by Prigozhin and his PMC, now the monopoly on this belongs exclusively to the state,” explains Dmitry Snegirev.
The Russian Ministry of Defense also recruits foreigners. According to the latest British intelligence, DPRK troops suffered more than 6,000 casualties in the battles in the Kursk region. This is more than half of the 11,000 soldiers who were initially deployed there. Russia is conducting raids on migrants from Central Asia. They are forced to sign a contract with the Russian armed forces or face deportation.
“In Moscow, a recruitment center has even been opened right in the Sakharovo migration center. Some people can no longer leave Russia because they are on the mobilization lists,” Snegirev said.
Escalation on the southern front: occupants intensify attacks near Kherson
In recent days, the situation in the southern sector has remained extremely tense. According to the Ukrainian Defense Forces, in particular, the spokesman for the Operational Command “South” Dmytro Voloshyn, the enemy has significantly intensified its offensive actions in the area of Antonivsky bridges and on the islands near Kherson.
“The enemy conducts one or two assaults from the south every day and makes three or four attempts to break through in the area of the Antonivsky road and railroad bridges. All these attempts are unsuccessful,” said Voloshyn.
He also noted that the number of attacks in this area has increased by 2-3 times compared to previous weeks.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine sees Russia’s intentions to launch a large-scale offensive, but every attempt of the enemy is “choked” due to the resilience of our military.
“The Russian army has fallen far short of its command’s expectations for this summer. Our units will continue to destroy the occupier and do everything to bring the war to Russian territory. We are preparing new long-range strikes,” Zelenskyy emphasized.
The Head of State added that Ukraine will continue to respond “invariably tough” to every attack on Ukrainians.
Currently, Russia continues to wage war in numbers, but this resource is not infinite. Daily assaults that do not bring strategic effect only deepen the army’s crisis. Thus, Russia continues to recruit additional forces to support costly wave attacks, thus trying to weaken the Ukrainian defense. However, the need for constant replenishment of personnel on the front lines will almost certainly continue to limit Russia’s ability to form units with a higher level of combat capability.
