Grim Forecast: UK General Predicts Nearly 2 Million Russian Casualties as Ukraine War Intensifies

Russia could face nearly two million military casualties in the ongoing war with Ukraine if the current rate of losses continues, according to a new report.

General Sir Roly Walker, the UK's Defence Chief, suggested that the toll of dead and wounded Russian soldiers could reach as high as 1.8 million if President Vladimir Putin continues his aggressive military tactics.

The general also warned that it could take Putin up to five years to secure control over the territories Russia claimed in 2022, including the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

These areas have been fiercely defended by Ukrainian forces, causing significant losses for the Russian military.

Sir Roly, a former head of the SAS, stated that the Kremlin is prepared to endure these heavy losses and the "untold billions" in military equipment destroyed, as “their calculus is different to ours," Express reported.

The UK's Ministry of Defence estimates that Russia has already lost around 550,000 soldiers in just over two years of fighting. However, this number could potentially triple if Russia maintains its current approach.

"If they carry on as they are, it will probably take the Russians five years to grind their way to their minimum objectives of the four oblasts," General Walker said during an event at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank in London. "At the current rate of attrition of dead and wounded, that puts them probably well north of 1.5 million casualties to achieve that, with untold billions of lost equipment."

He emphasized the challenge facing the Russian regime, questioning the worth of sacrificing up to 1.8 million lives for a portion of Ukraine.

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"There has got to be more things for Russia to worry about than losing the best part of 1.5 to 1.8 million people for a slice of Ukraine with the way the world is going," Walker added.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's military reported that it had inflicted further losses on Russian forces, claiming to have killed or wounded another 1,140 Russian soldiers in the past 24 hours, along with the destruction of 14 tanks.

Social media images suggest that Russia may be deploying Soviet-era tanks, possibly from the 1956 Hungarian Revolution era, to the front lines in Ukraine.