According to the British newspaper The Telegraph, the losses in recent months of the Russian army are so great that Moscow cannot find enough new recruits to fill the gaps, reported Focus.de.
Western officials say that Russia is losing almost 40,000 soldiers a month, while only 35,000 new ones can be recruited.
It is claimed that since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russia has lost more than 1.26 million soldiers. Putin's troops are still struggling with supply problems and technological failures in the fifth year of the full-scale invasion.
Russia is trying to attract new soldiers with high bonuses of up to $ 50,000. But this strategy doesn’t seem to be working. People are realizing that this is a one-way ticket. The economic situation in Russia makes it even more difficult to pay off these sums in the long term. The loss of access to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite communications is also affecting Russia.
In addition to Russia, Ukraine has also suffered heavy losses. President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke in early February about at least 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed last year. According to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Ukraine's total losses (killed and wounded soldiers) could be between 500,000 and 600,000.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had not achieved his military goals in Ukraine in the context of marking the fourth anniversary of the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, AFP reported.
„Putin has not achieved his goals. He has not been able to crush the Ukrainians. He has not won this war. We defended Ukraine and we will do everything to achieve peace and for justice to prevail. "We want peace - a strong, dignified and lasting peace," Ukrainian President Zelensky said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, accused Ukraine on the fourth anniversary of Moscow's invasion of the neighboring country of trying to torpedo the peace negotiation process.