Ukrainian tank crews T64 battle tank fires on the Russian troops position on January 9, 2024, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.
Roman Chop/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
Russia averaged nearly 1,000 casualties per day in February in Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence said.The high rate likely reflects “Russia’s commitment to mass and attritional warfare,” the MoD said.While Russia’s tactics are costly, they have increased pressure on Ukrainian positions.
Russian forces suffered an average of 983 casualties per day in Ukraine in February, the highest since the war began, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in an intelligence update on Sunday.
The UK department said the increase in casualties, which included both killed and wounded soldiers, was likely due to “Russia’s commitment to mass and attritional warfare.”
In February, Russia finally captured the embattled Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, which sits just north of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
War analysts have noted that Russia’s tactics to take Avdiivka often involved “human wave” assaults, attempting to overwhelm Ukrainian positions with large numbers of Russian soldiers on foot.
One Ukrainian commander said in January that they could kill 40 to 70 Russian soldiers per day, but they would just send another wave the next day.
“Assault after assault, non-stop,” he said.
The UK department said that Russia’s tactics were “costly in terms of human life,” but it noted that they had increased pressure on Ukrainian positions on the front lines.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously said that the Russian commanders do not value the lives of their men and that they “conscript corpses.”
Russia has likely had 355,000 personnel killed and wounded during the war, the MoD noted.
While Ukraine has been suffering from manpower shortages, Russia has used a number of tactics to replenish its forces, including raising the age of conscription for a year of military service to 30.