A quarter of a million Russian troops have been killed, injured, or have gone missing since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
Outgoing UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace quoted the extraordinary figures as he discussed the divisions that exist in the Kremlin as the conflict continues to go awry for Russia.
Wallace told the Tony Blair Institute’s Future of Britain conference: “If you look at the generals being fired, you look at Prigozhin – if anyone predicted last year that Prigozhin was going to march on Moscow, General Surovikin who is currently resting in Moscow at the moment – he’s one of their most capable generals.
“So, the splinter in the hierarchy of the Russian army is very real and the casualty rates are horrendous. It would not be wrong to say at least 230,000 to 250,000 dead or injured Russians.”
The minister considers it possible that all of Moscow’s forces could leave Ukrainian territory, including occupied Crimea, at the end of the war.
Wallace said: “I think it is winnable. I think Russia is much more fragile than the Russians want to admit, for sure.”
The politician, who is standing down as Defence Secretary after four years in the job, says that Ukraine has “tragically become a battle lab” but the lessons learned during the conflict will influence the future of the British armed forces.
He said: “The war in Ukraine has focused minds because there is a very real adversary being very aggressive, breaking all the rules of war on the continent of Europe, fighting a war designed to destroy a country.”
