Casualties

If you knew what the casulties were, if you have a heart, you would do what is in your power to push for peace talks rather than support the war effort

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Welcome to the peace initiative for Ukraine in which you can contibute by raising your awareness as well as your consciousness^[+] and spirit to the modes^[+] of neutrality^[*^], decency, respectfulness, wisdom^[*^], objectivity, mastery of the intellect, surrender (ego and mind to God’s will), and finally peace (inner then outer). To properly grasp everything, we recommend reading the articles of this peace initiative in the order that we^[*^] designed it, which is listed in the Contents. So if you haven’t read the previous articles, we urge you to do it, please. Did you read the this “Reality Checks” segment from the beginning? Please, do so for a better grasp of the topic of this article: The Real Beginning of the War in Ukraine.

Casualties numbers are available at these sources:

➡    Ukrainian total liquidated military personnel: Military Summary data sheet (W/197)^[+] with figures given by Russian MoD^[+]: 1.030.150 as of 15 February 2025

➡    Russian total liquidated military personnel with figures given by Ukrainian Ministry of Defence^[+] or General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine^[+][+] or Ukrainian Ministry of Finance (MinFin)^[+]: 949.800 – we find it highly untrustworthy and vastly exaggerated (also admitted^[+] by an Ukrainian politician) as compared to all other Western sources and indicators, which is why a better source is pro-Ukraine Mediazona^¹ & BBC^[+] – as of 28 April 2025: 104.763 confirmed deaths² (5.840 Russian Officers killed in Ukraine – Czech data sheet^[+])

Wikipedia: Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War^[+]

It might seem strange to begin with a joke but sometimes humor is how we process the unimaginable. With that in mind... Kyiv says they've lost very few soldiers. Russia says they've lost even fewer. At this rate, who's actually fighting? Ghosts? 😊

Ukrainian and Western people have the right to know the true cost of the war to make an informed decision about whether to support the military effort to resolve the issues or rather seek diplomatic resolution. The high cost suffered by the Ukraine military has been hidden from the people along with the real prospects of success but truth leaks out on a rare occasion like at a meeting of Poltava City Council when Ukrainian conscription officer revealed^[+] huge casualty rate – the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost 80-90% of their recruits, which made a lot of noise. The military commissar had no right to disclose these figures and was punished but a question rose: does society have the right to know the price it pays in war? Does not having the right to know the price represent freedom? Surely, during the war, there is no freedom. War is not a restaurant where the price of any dish is indicated but at least keep quiet instead of lying and deceiving people, telling about the war will end in 2-3 weeks, all missile strikes were intercepted, coffee in spring in Yalta, and the Russians will run away. Unfortunately for the Ukrainians, the horrible reality is this: the authorities are lying, concealing the price of the war all the time so that the society is not ready to give up the battle due to higher losses than gains, paying too much of a high price for a promised victory that will never come.

Own casualties are hidden by both sides but some indicators can serve as reliable sources, such as counting new graves with flags, obituaries, "dead" SIM cards, or the ratio of dead body exchange, which we are going to reveal here but perhaps the best indicator of Ukrainian catastrophic casualties is the fact that out of manpower shortage^{[+][+][+][+][+][+][+]}, in September 2023 Ukraine resorted to mobilizing women (even pregnant^{[»][ꚛ][»]}), students, pensioners^[»], and people with a disability, mental illness, schizophrenia^[»], Down syndrome^[»][»], cerebral palsy^[»], disabled people from psychiatric clinics^[»], HIV, tuberculosis^[»], viral hepatitis, blood diseases, thyroid gland diseases, epilepsy, etc.^[+], as well as extraditing men who fled out of the country. It means they lost most of the million troops who were available at the start.

We should never forget that casualties of this war are not mere numbers but these are all human beings whose lives have been destroyed and whose families and friends are also horribly impacted by it. And while many just look at the figures of killed, we should never overlook that the injured are not just lucky to survive but also often devasted by it. Not to mention all the destruction taking place as well as Ukraine losing evermore territories.

We must also point out that all those losses and destruction is on Zelensky as well as Boris Johnson and other NATO leaders who declined the Minsk agreements (signed in 2014 and 2015) as well as Istanbul peace deal in April 2022. Russians wanted peace while Kyiv & NATO wanted a war and still want to fight on.

We are told by Kyiv propagandists that Ukrainians are immortal^[+]. So, no one in Ukraine really died. We also take this opportunity to remind the Christians that no one really dies. Humans are endowed with eternal life. Life cannot be destroyed; it can only change form. While Hindus and Buddhists believe in reincarnation, Christians who follow Jesus Christ's teachings believe in eternal life:

-   Jesus: “Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” – John 8:51^[+]

-   Jesus: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.” – John 11:25^[+] (Bible, New Testament)

-   “…through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” – Paul the Apostle to the Romans 8:1^[+] (Bible, New Testament)

-   “Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: Death is swallowed up in victory.” – Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians 15:54^[+] (Bible, New Testament)

-   “Therefore Jesus said again… No one takes it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord... to take it up again.” – John 10:18^[+] (Bible, New Testament)

-   “For we know that Christ was raised from the dead” – Romans 6:9^[+] (Bible, NT)

-   “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” – Romans 8:11^[+] (Bible, NT)

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In February 2024 Zelensky claimed^[+][+] that only 31.000 Ukrainian troops had been killed in the two years of the war, but he did not bother to back his claim with any evidence. However, many MSM mentioned^[+][+][+] that US officials said half a year earlier the number was already then closer to 70.000 and in April 2024, the Washington Post reported^[+][+] that “A Ukrainian lawmaker… said they believed Zelensky… vastly downplayed the war’s true toll… presented as lower to avoid disrupting an already-struggling recruitment and mobilization drive.”

To put it in context, in the same period, over 220.000^[+] Americans died of drug-overdose; or in 2022 alone, 670.000^[+] people younger than 75 died of cardiovascular disease in the US, and 39.000^[+] in the UK, which would mean that Russians and war are not nearly as bad as drugs or heart disease.

Zelensky’s claim can't be corroborated because he hides the evidence but it can be easily debunked by stating the obvious: if this is so, why then are Ukrainians lacking manpower to fight Russia as evidenced by the mass media^{[+][+][+][+][+][+][+]} and mass kidnapping men^{[»][»][»][»][»][ꚛ][„»][„»][»„][»][»][»][»][„»][»„][»„][„»][»][„»][»„][»][»][„»][»][„»][»][»]} from the streets to force them to go to the war? And whydid they send the high-school kids^[»] to the frontlines to fight? How can anyone still believe Kyiv's lies about low casualties when the US is urging them to mobilize 18-year-olds? The entire narrative collapses with this alone.

Also, why did then just two days later Macron felt the need^[+] to send French and other NATO troops into Ukraine?? If Ukraine, according to Zelensky in January 2024^[+], had 880.000 fighters in the army and around 30 million (not counting refugees) people to draw from and lost no more than 31.000 men, then why would the French or anyone else need to send their troops?! Such discrepancies indicate lies.

We know this is a serious topic, and humor might seem out of place, but sometimes a pointed joke can highlight the underlying issues: Heard Zelensky is great at math, above all at subtraction. Especially when it comes to casualty reports. 😊

No? So, why are Ukrainians downplaying their own losses? Because they believe heroes don't die so they only count dead deserters? Or, because they only count organ donors who are no longer using their parts?

In July 2022, then-Defense Minister Reznikov said^[+] that more than a million people provide the defense of the country and since then, they mobilized many more, so why are they urging^[+] refugees to come back and fight if only 31.000 were lost?

It might be that Kyiv authorities cleverly and conviniently consider just KIA ignoring MIA, officially recognizing only a small number of killed so that they do not have to pay compensation to their families, which is as evil as lying about the casualties.

Is it ever okay to find humor in dark places? Perhaps as a way to cope or to highlight the madness. With that thought... What's the difference between Ukrainian casualty figures and a magician's act? One involves disappearing soldiers, the other, disappearing rabbits... allegedly😊.

At the same time, in February 2024, Zelensky claimed^[+][+] that Russia had suffered 500.000 casualties, including 180.000 troops killed in action, which is six times more than what he claimed was 31.000 Ukrainian troops being killed by then. His claim can be easily debunked by stating the obvious: if this is so, at such rate, why then are Ukrainians not defeating the Russians or pushing them away??

Postage stamps depicting Russian soldiers killed in the Russo-Ukrainian War.

The evidence of him lying is also the discrepancy with the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, which reported^[+] that by then 409.820 Russian military personnel had been eliminated (killed and wounded), and also US intelligence report declassified in mid-December 2023 estimated that 315.000 Russian troops had been killed or wounded in Ukraine, whereas BBC-funded Mediazona^[+]1 tracked^[+]2 44.654 Russian casualties in Ukraine by then and estimated^[+] or inflated them to be higher at 75.000 military deaths and 130.000 wounded, not 180.000 or 500.000 as Zelensky wanted us to believe.

Even in the darkest of times, the human spirit sometimes finds a way to... perhaps engage in a bit of wishful thinking. Here's a joke that perhaps touches on that tendency: Why are Kyiv's reports of Russian casualties so high? Under injured, they count every Russian soldier who broke a nail, and under eliminated, they count all Russians, including Russian chickens, geese, ducks... 😊

Even Ukrainian MP Goncharenko, one of the greatest and most vocal Russophobes, suspected official casualty figures based on mathematics^[+]: “We have 1 million people in the Defense Forces. We are constantly told that we are retreating, because there are 5 times more Russians. According to statistics, there are 600-700 thousand of them on the territory of Ukraine. Banal mathematics says that there should be more of us. Where are all the people? Are these dead people?”

The people using brains, truth-seekers and free-thinkers, do not rely on propaganda machine to tell them the truth but can deduce the casualties’ figures and ratio based on several factors such as the amount of new cemeteries^[„], obituaries, the ratio of dead body and POW exchange, as well as the amount of soldiers who refused to follow orders^[»], surrenderers and deserters^{[+][»][»][»][»][»][»][»][»][+][+][+][+][»][»][»]} – which is such a big issue that even Zelensky^[»] and Ukrainian lawyer Rostislav Kravets^[»] admitted. On the other side, Russians rarely surrender (Kyiv regime understandably hide the humiliating fact the Ukrainian POWs outnumber Russian ones ten to one as of January 2024^[+] which can be corroborated that the POW exchange was around 4:1^[+][+] – Russia gave 4 Ukrainian POWs for one of theirs). Dead body exchange ratio is even much worse for Ukraine – 27:1^[+] in May 2025, and in previous months 22:1^[+], 21:1^[+], 17:1^[+], 15:1^[+], 12:1^[+], 10:1^[+], 15:1^[+]…

The army whose soldiers surrender and desert more is obviously the one that suffers more losses. But gullible people who do not think for themselves can’t see the connection or follow that logic. The propaganda lies on casualties’ ratios is exposed to people using brains also whenever Western media outlets feature headlines like in April 2025^[+] “Why Don’t Russian Soldiers Revolt? Astonishing death rates and brutal abuse have not kept troops from following orders.” Obviously those “astonishing death rates and brutal abuse” narratives are false as otherwise Russian soldiers would surrender and desert more than Ukrainian do. The fact that Russian soldiers don’t revolt proves that the death rates are true and astonishing only to those who fall for Western propaganda.

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According to Forbes^[+], in July 2022, then-Minister of Defense of Ukraine Reznikov said that more than a million Ukrainians in uniform provided the defense of the country at the time. The fact that they are now recruiting ill and old people and women is a clear indicator that most of the initial one million people are gone, either killed or wounded severely. Even before the September 2023 mobilization announcement, they were summoning many men, most of them by force, so we could add another couple hundred thousand on top of the initial million who are on active duty now.

In mid-December 2023, Zelensky revealed the size^[+][+] of Ukrainian ground forces fighting against Russia: nearly 600.000 soldiers (the majority of them noncombat support roles; their direct frontline combat troop amounted to around 200-250.000 at most). This means that if no one was mobilized the whole time since July 2022, it would mean that Ukraine lost 400.000 soldiers. However, of course, they have been recruiting new soldiers all the time with general mobilization constantly being extended. A month later, Zelensky said^[+] that Kyiv's military had 880.000 active military personnel and together with the logistics personnel a million-strong army³.

Unlike Russia, Ukraine hides the number of mobilized conscripts, so we can only estimate that, since they are so desperate to hunt draft dodgers and mobilize even (pregnant^{[»][ꚛ][»]}) women and ill and old people, Ukraine must have mobilized at least half a million⁴ people since July 2022 till end-2023, which would mean that altogether in 2022 and 2023, at least 1,5 million^[+] Ukrainian soldiers have fought in some capacity.

Therefore if there was only 600.000 troops left in mid-December 2023, that would mean that there have been at least 900.000 serious casualties (not counting the wounded soldiers who continue to serve in the military). In early-January 2024, former Ukrainian Prosecutor General and ex-head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko estimated^[+][»] on Ukrainian TV that Ukraine lost 500.000 soldiers, killed or seriously wounded, since the beginning of the Russian SMO⁵.

In 2023, some Ukrainian sources suggest that there are over 20.000 irretrievable casualties every month. In November 2023, the Ukrainian military said to Defence Ministry personnel Mariana Bezuhla^[+][+][+] that they needed to mobilize at least 20.000 citizens a month, which could mean to replace those who die every month. Also, former battalion commander, Yevhen Dykyi, has estimated^[+] that Ukraine will need to enlist 20.000 soldiers a month through next year to sustain its army, both replacing the dead and wounded, and allowing rotations. The same was estimated by retired German Air Force Colonel and prominent military analyst Ralph D. Thiele who claimed^[+] in December 2023 that more than 20.000 soldiers have to be recruited every month to replace the dead and wounded. This figure also matches the figures given by the Russians every month throughout most of 2023.

For instance, in December 2023, according to the Russian Defence Ministry’s data and Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu^[+], Ukraine had lost more than 125.000 troops over six months of the so-called counteroffensive, thus dividing that figure of 125.000 by 6, we get around 20.000 per month. This would mean that by the end of 2023, in 22 months of fighting, Ukraine lost around 440.000 soldiers.

In March 2024, French publication Marianne, which is very close to the French political class, published reports^[+][+] based on impressions of the French officers speaking on condition of anonymity. The French Armed Forces estimated Ukraine needs 30.000 – 35.000 new conscripts or recruits every month to keep their force levels steady, which in other words means that, according to French intelligence, this is how many casualties they have every month. The similar number was later, in June 2024, affirmed^[»] by Russian President Putin, and on 30 July 2024 by the New York Times^[+]: “Kyiv had been drafting up to 30,000 people a month since May.”

In April 2025, Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said^[+] that Ukraine must mobilize 30.000 soldiers every month, which means that at least that many soldiers they lose each month! Correspondingly, in a year, Ukraine loses 360.000 soldiers. These are irretrievable losses, not all dead but also severely wounded.

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyy and editor-in-chief of LB.ua — not giving the “winner” vibes, is he?

Syrskyi also said then in that interview^[+] that every month, Russian increase their armed forces by 8.000-9.000; in a year 120.000-130.000, which means that around that many soldiers they lose each month, which is 3 times less than Ukraine. However, he put the number of Russian troops then deployed in Ukraine at 623.000, which is a bit bigger number then they claimed Russians had in 2023 and 2024, which means that Russians recruit more troops than they lose, and that means then that the ratio of loses is even more in Russian favor – 1:4 according to Ukrainian sources but according to Russian sources, that ratio is even higher.

Russian Ministry of Defence provides figures, which they claimed to get by intercepting Ukrainian commanders’ phone conversations with their seniors whom they give daily reports. In April 2024, then-Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said^[+] that Ukraine had lost almost half a million troops by then. In December 2023, he said^[+] that Ukraine lost over 383.000 men (more than 215.000 soldiers^[+][+] alone in 2023), which also matched some other sources^[+][+][+][+].

Also, on 26 November 2022, on one of the leading channels in Ukraine, 1+1, a ticker appeared^[»+] with the words that in past 20 months, 1.126.652 military personnel of the Ukrainian army are killed or missing in action or wounded.

Even if this was fake rather than a leak, as Kyiv authorities wanted us to believe, this overall casualties figure matches the abovementioned figure of over 400.000 KIA because the number of wounded could easily be almost double, around 800.000 totaling at 1,2 million.

And what are they dying for? To be annexed by the EU and NATO, to lose all sovereignty and independence! To pay NATO membership every year (2% of GDP), to play by the EU rules, to sell off their natural resources to Western capitalistic predators at minimum price, to embrace neoliberal values that contradict Slavic traditional values, to antagonize its Eastern Slavic neighbors (Belarus and Russia), to pay higher price for gas and oil, to have neo-Nazis (Bandera followers) rule them and rewrite history...

Otherwise, Ukrainian authorities keep lying about the number of casualties. There is too many such instances to mention, so just randomly let's mention David Arakhamia, leader of the ruling Servant of the People party, who lied^[+] on 26 January 2024 during a panel discussion, as reported by lb.ua^[+] that Ukraine’s casualties are “much smaller” than the 100.000 mark many believed Ukraine to have surpassed. He said that in the context of many Ukrainians being skeptical of joining the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which reveals his motive for lying as they are desperate to recruit new conscripts. As for evidence of it being a lie and how deceitful the Ukrainian government is, there is plenty of it, including counting new graves, obituaries, "dead" SIM cards, or the number of body exchange, as well as reports from renowned Western, Turkish, and Israeli sources and investigators, as we will now proceed to list some of them (we are not using Russian sources because we know that pro-Ukrainians would dismiss it as Russian propaganda):

➡    The former chief of the general staff of the Polish army, General Raimund Andrzejczak stated^[+][+][+] that the losses of the AFU at the front are calculated in “millions, not hundreds of thousands.”

➡    According to leaked Pentagon files^[+][+] (containing intelligence from many agencies, including the National Security Agency, the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and the CIA dated ranging from February 23 to March 1), in the first year of the war, one version^[+][+][+] estimated 16.000 to 17.500 Russian soldiers had been killed while Ukraine had suffered as many as 71.500 troop deaths (whereas another disputed, probably altered version^[+] estimated that 43.000 Russians were killed in action, while Ukraine had suffered 124.500 to 131.000 casualties, with up to 17.500 killed in action) – but Ukraine's defence ministry^[+] reported that they liquidated 145.850 Russians. It is not clear what Ukrainians mean by liquidated (they probably intentionally use such an ambiguous, deceiving word so that if confronted later in a court of law, they could say they meant it as overall casualties) but everyone assumes it means killed (not including the wounded). Why does the Ukrainian government need to lie to the public to boost their fighting morale anyway, do they need lies to be motivated? Don't they have some values to fight for?

➡    Compared to reports from BBC^[+], Ukrainska Pravda^[+] and The Kyiv Independent^[+]⁶, 16.000 Russian soldiers were killed during the first year of the war but Ukraine's defence ministry^[+], on the other hand, was saying that they liquidated 146.820 Russians during the first year, Although, they probably mean including the wounded but still Ukrainian authorities extremely inflated the numbersl.

➡    In another comparison, on 20 March 2023, according to the US Col. MacGregor (retired US Army colonel and former Senior Advisor to the US Secretary of Defense) and his intel from the US MoD, by then 30.000 Russians were killed and 60-70.000 wounded while up to 250.000 Ukrainians were killed and 300-400.000 wounded but Ukraine's defence ministry^[+] was saying that they liquidated 165.610 Russians.

➡    Compared to another American source – on 14. March 2023, Scott Ritter's (former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and UN Special Commission weapons inspector) report^[+], by then no more than 45.000 Russians and up to 300.000 Ukrainians were killed. Ukraine's defence ministry, on the other hand, was claiming^[+] that they liquidated 160.540 Russians. Again, a vast exaggeration even if wounded were included.

➡    On 25 January 2023, a Turkish news outlet^[+][+] published the casualty numbers which were leaked from (not given by) Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad – by January 25^th, Russia lost 18.480 personnel, while 44.500 were injured and 323 captured. By then, Ukraine lost 157.000 personnel plus 234.000 injured and 17.230 captured, but there were also 234 dead military trainers from NATO states (US and UK), 2.458 soldiers from NATO states (Germany, Poland, Lithuania, …), and 5.360 mercenaries – all in all, 8.052 foreigners died for Ukraine by then. Ukraine's defence ministry was claimin^[+]g that they liquidated 123.080 Russians. The Ukrainian estimates are more fanciful than grounded in reality.

Another evidence of how deceitful the Ukrainian government is about the casualties, is the irrationality of the statements that the authorities are claiming themselves:

For instance, they keep lying that the ratio of Ukrainian and Russian casualties is 1:7-10^[+][+][+][+] or so (their allies are saying 1:2^[+] or 1:5^[+]), which in itself is defying any rationality considering how cautious the Russians shown themselves to be and how reckless Ukrainians have been, as well how they were saying that Russians are shelling many times more than they are able to do due to the lack of ammunition. The ratio of shelling ≈ ratio of casualties.

Not just some bloggers but Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Malyar lied on 29 March 2023 that the ratio of losses between Ukraine and Russia is 1:10^[+][+], which was then debunked a couple of weeks later with Pentagon leaks, which stated the opposite ratio – 7:1. Former Ukrainian National Security and Defense Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said^[+] that the ratio is 1:7-10 in Ukrainian favor but international sources^[»] are saying that it is actually the other way around – in Russian favor, although typically there are more casualties on the offensive than when on the defensive but we will have to wait until the war is over to know the true figures. According to Ukrainian battlefield commanders reported in the Western MSM^[+], Russians inflict from 5:1 to 10:1 kill ratio on Kyiv regime⁷ forces.

The ratio of casualties can be estimated by the ratio of artillery shelling because this war is artillery war more than anything else – artillery is the biggest killer in Ukraine, accounting for perhaps 80% of casualties on both sides. According to data from the European Commission in March 2023^[+], Russia fires between 40.000 and 50.000 artillery shells per day, compared to 5.000-6.000 Ukrainian forces expend. According to data from the Estonian government, which has been one of the largest contributors to Kyiv’s war effort, the average use of artillery is between 20.000-60.000 Russian shells per day and 2.000-7.000 Ukrainian rounds. In other words, the ratio of artillery shelling is close to 10:1 in Russian favor, which would mean that the casualties ratio would be about the same. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated in February 2023 that Russia was firing around four times as many shells as Ukraine^[+].

Ukrainian authorities constantly contradict themselves when they make claims such as this one^[+] from Zelensky that Russians are firing three times as many shells as Ukraine – all who can do the math and think with their own head recognize that something is extremely off with that math. Because, how can Ukraine with a constant lack of ammunition and by shelling many times less, inflict 8 times more casualties???!!! The Ukrainians and Westerners who believe armchair General Zelensky and his bureaucrats don't seem to use their brains. Put two and two together to figure it out.

This reminds us of the Russian drone attacks on 28. March 2023 when the Zelensky regime solemnly claimed they shot down 14 out of 15 drones according to General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine^[+] but Air Force Command reported^[+] that their air defense system destroyed 12 Russian drones, so the Ukrainian authorities can't even coordinate their stories. And another joke went viral: Russia fired 15 drones and Ukraine managed to shut down all 25 of them, and Elvis Presley is alive😊.

There are countless other contradictory stories, so let’s just mention one other: On 18 May 2023, according to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine^[+] and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine^[+], Ukraine's air defense supposedly successfully shot down 29 out of 30 Russian missiles (meaning only one missile got through) but the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy^[+] admitted that 20 towns across many different unconnected regions of Ukraine lack energy due to that missile attack – no reasoning offered on how could just one missile strike 20 targets! Kyiv really needs to work on its propaganda skills.

If it is true what Zelensky was saying about Russians firing three times as many shells as Ukraine, then it would be logical that they inflicted three times more casualties upon Ukraine, if not more, as Russians are known to be on target with their precision missile attacks and not to waste their soldiers like Ukraine does (Russians rather withdraw from territories than suffer too man losses, like in Kherson, while Ukrainians recklessly defend towns like Artyomovsk/Bakhmut).

So, considering that the effectiveness of shelling is the same on both sides, if Ukraine is saying that they liquidated 500.000 Russians, then, firing three times as many shells would mean that Russians then liquidated at least 1,5 million Ukrainians.

Another one of the best evidence that Zelensky and his clique among the Kyiv authorities are lying about their casualties are their constant contradictions such as Zelensky claiming^[+] in late-August 2024 that Russia has launched a combined 43.000 missiles and bombs, yet the AFU death toll was said to only be less than 40.000 (in February 2024, Zelensky claimed^[+][+] that 31.000 Ukrainian troops were killed by then). So we're supposed to believe each of those very powerful bombs with 500-1000kg warheads only generates 1 casualty on average and no one dies any other way? 🤪🤔 Even if we are to believe that Ukrainians had downed all of Russian 10.000 missiles, as they claim, still those 33.000 glide bombs were impossible to intercept as Ukrainian and Western MSM^[+][+][+][+] admitted it and called them a “miracle weapon”.

In the face of often senseless events, sometimes the only response is a dark chuckle at the sheer absurdity of it all. Consider this... Could it be that those who made transition into the afterlife, Kyiv counts as still living?😊After all, they keep telling us “heroes don’t die”. If they live forever, then the official death toll is just a list of killed traitors and fugitives?

Here is a video^[»] posted by a Ukrainian woman explaining why the government is hiding or lying about the human losses being small ^[+]: money – to avoid paying compensation. She said that some independent sources, as well as cemeteries and obituaries, suggest that 300.000 soldiers had been killed, which means that, in compliance with the law, the government should officially pay nearly $122 billion to their families in compensation.

According to an open-source project^[+] run jointly by the journalists of BBC and the Russian anti-Putin pro-Ukrainian^[+] media outlet Mediazona^[+] (founded by former Pussy Riot members, Russian traitors^[+][+], who fund^[+] and support^[+] Ukrainian army), as of February 2025, Russian casualties^[+] in Ukraine were 93.641 confirmed² military deaths of service personnel in Ukraine. That number does not represent the actual death toll since it is only gathered through publicly available reports including obituaries, social media posts by relatives, reports in local media, and statements by the local authorities.

In September 2022, in the Russian government’s only official statement on losses suffered during the “special military operation,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed that 5.937 Russian troops had been killed in action by then.

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If you do not trust the Ukrainian losses reported^[+] by the Russian Ministry of Defence, there are some other ways, such as counting new graves, obituaries, "dead" SIM cards (from phones that are forever silenced, which can indicate the level of human losses), or the ratio of body exchange. Cemeteries do not provide the full picture because many soldiers are cremated or just buried in mass graves^[+], nevertheless the vast number^{[»][»][»][»]} of them exposes the Kyiv regime's lies^[+][+][+]. Here is 1^[»], 2^[»], 3^[»] and 4^[»] hours of overcrowded Ukrainian cemeteries^[+], plus a shorter version here^[»]. Kharkiv cemetery grew so much, it’s probably visible from space^[»]😊. And gravediggers are surely getting richer than, say, teachers.

➡    In one and half years, by August 2023, according to cemeteries count^{[+][+][+][»]} – 400.000 killed, as also reported by US Colonel Douglas Macgregor^[»] – Ukraine’s suffering utterly unsustainable massive war losses. Let's put this in context – the UK lost 384.000 troops (KIA) in the whole 6 years of WW2. Not to mention the number of cremated – AFU leadership ordered units to cremate bodies and provided mobile crematoria because morgues were overcrowded due to heavy casualties and logistical problems^[+]. Furthermore, in August 2023, the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers allocated^[+] 266 hectares for the National Military Memorial Cemetery near Kyiv. That's on top of what was announced^[+] in April 2023 by mayor Klitschko – the construction of a new 100 hectares military cemetery that has already begun in Kyiv. Besides, just look at these videos^[»] of hundred graveyards in Ukraine to gain a perspective on Ukrainian losses. Some graveyards are so big^[»], one needs a car just to get to a grave driving through the cemetery!

How can Kyiv claim^[+][+] having less than 31.000 dead soldiers at the same time as opening the world’s biggest cemetery?! In August 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine allocated^[+] 266 hectares to create a new gigantic military cemetery (National War Memorial Cemetery) in the Fastovsky district of the Kyiv region with a burial place for 600.000 to 800.000 people. That's on top of what was announced^[+] in April 2023 by Kyiv mayor Klitschko – the construction of a new 100 hectares military cemetery that has already begun in Kyiv. And these cemeteries are not the only place where a large number of bodies are buried – just look at these videos^[»] of hundred graveyards in Ukraine to gain a perspective on Ukrainian losses. Some graveyards are so big^[»], one needs a car just to get to a grave driving through the cemetery!

➡    Armchair Warlord found^[+] 300.000 Ukrainian military obituaries but only 32.000 Russian ones. Ruslan Tatarinov (Front Whisper Telegram channel^[+]) counted Ukrainian obituaries of 284.000 dead^{[+][+][+][»]} by the 26 July 2023. But how many others are lying in the fields, missing, not identified, or surrendered^[+], remains unclear.

The number of MIA⁸ may be the same as KIA⁹ or more as Ukrainians often do not get to evacuate their dead soldiers^[+], and the government prefers to classify the dead as MIA so as to avoid paying compensations to their families. In the first four months of SMO^[+], Ukrainian authorities^[+] reported more than 7.000 Ukrainian soldiers were MIA but they always significantly deflate their figures and even so, this would be more than 30.000 in the same period (by 26 July 2023). As of February 2025, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Ukraine reported^[+] 62.948 missing persons cases, a quarter of which (16.190) has been opened by The Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS) that solved 1.669 cases (1.148 have had positive results), leaving 14.521 cases still open. In March 2025, URCS reported^[+] receiving 118.000 enquiries from people searching for their loved ones, with almost 14.000 open cases (many people enquire about the same missing person).

➡    Another means to estimate the casualties, or at least casualties ratio between Ukraine and Russia is the ratio of dead body exchange. This ratio is indicative of real losses on the ground. From time to time, they swap not just prisoners but also corpses. At every exchange, there is much more Ukrainian corpses than Russian ones, which to the people using brains speaks volumes indicating that Ukrainians die much more than Russians do.

Does body-exchange-ratio increase indicates that Ukrainians die increasingly more than Russians do or that the value of a Russian dead soldiers is evermore higher than that of an Ukrainian?

In June 2025, Russia has recovered the remains of 78 of its soldiers. Ukraine, in turn, received the bodies of 6.060^[+] of its fallen soldiers^[+][+][+][+]. The ratio was 78:1

• Russia offered 6.000^[+][»] bodies and Ukraine scandalously refused^[»] to take them at first, as reported by Ukrainian MP Artem Dmitruk^[»][»] and other officials^[+][»], so that the government wouldn’t have to pay approximately $2.2 billion^[+] to compensate the families of those fallen soldiers. Under public and media pressure, they then took the bodies later. Moscow was ready to hand over another 2.239 bodies^[+][+].

• Under Ukrainian law^[+][+], families of military servicemembers who died in combat conditions are entitled to compensation payment of 15 million Ukrainian hryvnias (UAH) or around $365.000 at that time when the exchange rate was 1 USD = 41.44 UAH. $365.000 × 6.000 = $2,19 billion.

In May 2025, Russia has recovered the remains of 34 of its soldiers. Ukraine, in turn, received the bodies of 909 of its fallen servicemen^[+]. The ratio was 27 for 1!

In April 2025, Ukraine and Russia exchanged bodies of fallen soldiers – Ukraine received 909 bodies while Russia received 41 bodies^[+][+]. The ratio was over 22 for 1!

In March 2025, Ukraine and Russia exchanged bodies of fallen soldiers – Ukraine received 909 bodies while Russia received 43 bodies^[+][+]. The ratio was over 21 for 1!

In February 2025, Ukraine and Russia exchanged bodies of fallen soldiers – Ukraine received 757 bodies and Russia received 45 bodies^[+]. The ratio was roughly 17 for 1!

In January 2025, Russia handed over to Ukraine the bodies of 757 dead Ukrainian soldiers, and Ukraine to Russia the bodies of 49 Russian soldiers^[+][+]. 49 vs 757 is ratio of 1 to 15 indicating that 15 times more Ukrainians died than Russians. But they want us to believe that it is the other way around, that Russian losses are around 17 times bigger – Zelensky lied in December 2024 that since February 2022, 43.000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in action^[+][+] while “Russia has lost about 700.000, maybe 800.000 soldiers in Ukraine”^[»] His backers in the West keep also spewing similar but not as crazy ratios, always claiming Russian losses at least twice bigger than Ukrainian ones, such as here in January 2025 NYT article^[+]: “Russia has lost about twice as many men to death and serious injury as Ukraine”. But they are not even intelligent enough to realize that they contradict themselves by stating that the gap in manpower between the two continues rise, with Ukraine “only having 250,000 men on the frontline”, and Russia over 400,000. How can the side which is taking much higher losses possibly be pushing the manpower gap further in its favor? Well, according to the NYT sophistic calculations it merely comes down to Russia’s higher recruiting power – sure. If Ukraine was winning and morale was high, it wouldn’t be suffering a recruitment crisis. But Ukraine is losing – why? Because it’s taking far higher losses; logic prevails.

In December 2024, Russia handed over to Ukraine the bodies of 503 dead Ukrainian soldiers, and Ukraine to Russia the bodies of 42 Russian soldiers^[+][+]. 42 vs 503 is ratio of 1 to 12 indicating that 12 times more Ukrainians died than Russians.

On 29 November 2024, Russia handed over to Ukraine the bodies of 502 dead Ukrainian soldiers, and Ukraine to Russia the bodies of 48 Russian military^[+]. 48 vs 502 is ratio of 1 to 10,5. And on 8 November 2024, Ukraine handed over 37 bodies to Russia and received 563 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers^[+]. 37 vs 563 is ratio of 1 to 15,2. In summary of the two, November dead body exchange rate was 85:1.065 (12,5 times more of dead Ukrainian soldiers), which is indicative of the actual losses rate at the front. In November, Russian Ministry of Defence reported 61.045 total losses of Ukrainian soldiers while Ukrainian MoD claimed 45.000^[+] Russian personnel losses. It makes you wonder why Ukraine returned only 85 bodies if they allege to have liquidated 45.000 that month. Something is very off with their ratio. In October 2024, the bodies exchange ratio was 89:501^[+], with again much more Ukrainian than Russian corpses, which is very telling.

Another example, as reported by Kyiv state media^[+], in the transfers carried out by the Office of Commissioner for Missing Persons with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross under the Geneva Conventions, in May and June 2024, Ukrainians retrieved 466 bodies of fallen soldiers: 212 (31st May) + 254 (14th June) while Russians retrieved 77 bodies: 45 (31st May) + 32 (14th June). In other words, 6 times more Ukrainian soldiers died than Russian. In 29 March 2024 body exchange^[+], the ratio was 121:29 – 4 times more Ukrainian corpses than Russian.

And the record goes on with Ukrainians always retrieving more corpses than Russians do, which clearly indicates that Ukrainians lose more soldiers than Russians do. At the same time, according to Kyiv propaganda account of Russian losses (524.000 personnel^[ꚛ]) and the official corpses exchange ratio (4-6 times more Ukrainians died), it would mean that Ukraine lost around 3 million soldiers (if Russia lost a half a million) by then but, of course, Kyiv inflates numbers of Russian losses. As Kyiv Independent reported^[+] at that time, pro-Ukrainian^[+] media outlet Mediazona^[+] (founded by Russian convicted felon in exile former Pussy Riot members, Russian traitors^[+][+], who fund^[+] and support^[+] Ukrainian army), identified nearly 54.200^[+] Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, which would mean that Ukraine lost around 300.000 soldiers and not 31.000 as Zelensky lied^[+][+] in February 2024.

Similar ratios apply to the number of prisoners, as Russia has held much more Ukrainian prisoners than the other way around, which indicates that also the number of casualties mirrors that ratio. Ukraine does not publish but at the end of 2024, BBC estimated^[+] the total to be more than 8.000 of prisoners of war being held by Russia, which was on top of 3.956^[+] Ukrainian detainees being brought home by then. By the end of 2024, there were 59 prisoners swaps, and the reason why still 8.000 Ukrainian POWs couldn´t be brought home is self-evidently because Ukraine does not have as many Russian POWs to exchange them with, indicating also that Ukrainians surrender more than Russians do for the obvious reason of death danger. In prisoner exchanges, always^[+] Ukraine brought back more soldiers from Russian captivity than vice versa.

➡    At the beginning of the summer of 2023, Ukrainian mobile phone providers estimated their "irreparable losses" at 1.1 million SIM cards. A representative of one of the operators in Ukraine said, "Since the beginning of July (2023), every week we lose 5.500 SIM cards in the east of the country, other operators have the same numbers”^[+][+]. We all process difficult things in different ways. Sometimes, a shared moment of (hopefully not offensive) humor can offer a brief connection. So... What did the dead soldier's SIM card finally text? "Kyiv says I'm just 'missing in action'... guess I should update my status."😊

➡    Also, the number of amputations or delivered prosthetics may offer an estimate of losses. The Wall Street Journal reported^[+] in August 2023 that up to 50.000 Ukrainians have lost one or more limbs since the beginning of the SMO. They say it is at the scale of WWI when over 8 million people died on each belligerent side, which suggests that millions of Ukrainians must have died already. Even worse figures come from the Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy, which reported^[+] in September 2023 an increase of approximately 300.000 individuals with disabilities in Ukraine since February 2022.

➡ Another means to estimate the casualties, or at least casualties ratio between Ukraine and Russia is the number of POWs¹⁰ exchange. The fact that there are much, much more Ukrainian POWs who surrendered to Russian forces than vice versa, it is safe to conclude that this means that Ukrainians are getting more hammered than Russians are.

➡    When it comes to foreign mercenaries, here^[+][+][+] are some figures from Russian sources from 2023. They track both the number of “arrived” and “eliminated”. Most of them are from Poland, the US, Georgia, Canada, the UK, and Romania. The total of arrived by then was 13.387 with almost 6.000 of these confirmed killed.

Another evidence of how deceitful the Ukrainian government is about the number of Ukrainian casualties being (many times) less than what they claim to be Russian casualties is the survey by the Razumkov Center in March 2023^[+][+], which revealed that almost 40% of Ukrainians know someone killed or wounded since February 2022 and in the numbers are expected to be significantly higher since they don't include casualties in the still-occupied territories or areas with heavy hostilities where there is highly likely that everyone knows at least one person killed or wounded, which would mean 100%. That would mean that overall, more than half of people know at least one person as a casualty of war. If we take just 50% and disregard the probability that they might know more than just one and that there is surely some overlapping, then considering that Ukraine had a population of over 30 million, that would mean that at least 15 million are either killed or injured. When we deduct the overlapping data (more people claiming to know the same person being a casualty), still the casualties are much, much, much higher than what Ukrainian authorities suggest (a few times less than claimed Russian casualties).

Another evidence of how deceitful the Kyiv regime is about the number of Ukrainian casualties is the fact that in October 2024, Zelensky has signed a law^[+] allowing foreign mercenaries to serve as officers in the country’s military to take positions of authority in the army, regardless of their citizenship. When the law was being discussed in September, the deputy head of the parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence, Egor Chernev, explained that it was needed to address the lack of command staff in the armed forces. You don’t have to be a genius to understand that the lack of command staff is due to enormous casualties and that Ukrainians suffer more casualties than Russians because Russia does not need to allow foreign mercenaries to serve on positions of authority in its military.

While on the topic of foreign mercenaries serving as officers in Ukrainian military, take a minute what that really means. Mercenaries are criminals who kill for a living.Anyone who expects mercenaries to act morally has not understood the business they are in and what type of person choses to kill for a living. Hiring such lowlifes as officers and not just as executioners signals not only how desperate Kyiv regime is but also how immoral it is. They are using not just neo-Nazis but also mercenaries to achieve their goals, which anyone using brains can foresee how that will end.

Whatever the casualties’ numbers are, the undeniable fact is that Ukrainian losses are horrific. We should never lose sight of the human tragedy behind all numbers, however big or small. To put it in perspective, in the Ukrainian war, there are approximately as many Ukrainian casualties in one year as there were in the Afghanistan war on both sides in 20 years of war!!! This is because Ukrainians are empowered by NATO to fight fiercely and because the Ukrainian force consists of too many untrained and unwilling civilians forced to fight on the battlefields^[+].

The enormous losses on the Ukrainian side will be unsustainable, thus 2025 will be the decisive year. The historical ratio of wounded to killed in war is 3:1, suggesting that Ukrainian casualties were around a million people in just one year of fighting, which is insane, utter madness. For Ukraine to regain occupied territories, the Ukrainian army needs to engage in counteroffensives. But when you're on the offensive, you lose twice or three times as many people – Ukraine can't afford that because they already lost most of their manpower on the defensive.

So, compared to other sources on war casualties, it is undeniable that the Ukrainian government is exceedingly lying about Ukrainian achievements on the battlefield but given that the deviation from the truth is so gigantic, this is no longer a case of just misinforming the public to boost their morale but an utter coverup to prevent the public to push the government to negotiate a peace deal. If the public knew the whole truth, this war would surely be over much sooner with much fewer losses.

Zelensky and his inner circle are faced with no choice but to fight on for as long as possible because they know that if they lose, they will be overthrown and lose not only war but everything else, including power, respect, and probably even their lives.

A historical example is in November 1914, four months after the First World War began, with German Kaiser Wilhelm II, who concluded with his war cabinet that the war was unwinnable, yet fought on for another four years because they knew that if they lost, they would be overthrown, there would be a revolution, which also happened in the end.^[+]

Since the current Ukrainian leadership has no choice but to lie and keep fighting for their own survival, the Ukrainian public should request a regime change, especially because Zelensky refused a peace deal in April 2022 whereby territorial integrity was ensured. Ukrainians need to raise their consciousness¹¹^[+] to be wise enough to remove the internal and external haters and war hawks from the equation to give peace a chance.

In other combat fields such as in sports, the unwritten rule says that the national coach has to resign if the team is knocked out in the quarter-finals of a tournament. Even more, in war or life-or-death type of situations, there should be an independent committee in place, like the Council of Seniors to dismiss the President and his/her administration when they evidently deceive the public and make no progress at the cost of many lives.

“Russia is not at war with Ukraine, but with Ukrainian neo-Nazis^[+] and NATO” – Kremlin.

NATO countries are providing money, weapons, training, and "advisors". Ukrainians are just pawns in their geopolitical “chess game”, the first line on the “chessboard” – cannon fodder.

Thank you for reading this article and participating in this peace initiative by raising your awareness and, hopefully, your consciousness and spirit. To properly grasp everything, we^[*^] recommend reading the articles of this peace initiative for Ukraine in the proper order, which is listed in the Contents. So if you haven’t read the previous articles, we recommend that you do. This article is part of the “Reality Checks” segment debunking NATO & Kyiv propaganda. When you are ready, please proceed to the next article in this series: Must-Know for Every Ukrainian If you’re not Ukrainian, you may skip it and go to NATO Proxy War

1. Mediazona^[+] is a NATO-states-funded anti-Russian online news site founded in 2014 by Russian convicted felons in exile, former Pussy Riot members who are Russian traitors^[+][+], as they fund^[+] and support^[+] Ukrainian army – Russian government blacklisted the outlet as a foreign agent . One of the founders joined the Ukrainian Army, proving to be a traitor killing Russian forces.

2. Mediazona & BBC – under the pressure of Kyiv and NATO because their figures^[+] have always been 10 times lower than what Kyiv propagated, in July 2024, they announced using new algorithm which doubles the amount of what they are able to confirm. Read here^[+] about this being debunked. But even in their widest estimate^[+] Ukrainians manage to kill 138 Russians a day (120K:868) on a thousand kilometers long frontline while Russians were killing on avarage 716 Ukrainians a day or over 2.000^[+] of them every day in those days — after 868 days of fighting (on 11 July 2024), they stated that there were 58,207 confirmed Russian military deaths but something they call “probate registry estimate” was ~ 120.000^[+].

3. a million-strong army — as seen here^[+], in Dec 2023, this was confirmed by Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry, who said that the total strength of the Ukrainian defense forces was about 1,1 million people.

4. Ukraine must have mobilized at least half a million people since mid-2022 till end-2023 —say, just one person per day per just 925 towns and villages (although there are more than 28.000^[+] of towns and villages in non-occupied Ukraine; in February 2023, Zelensky said Russia occupied 1,877 Ukrainian cities and villages)

5. SMO = Special Military Operation

6. The Kyiv Independent is an American-funded outlet that is not independent as it is funded by institutions associated with the CIA; it was created with an emergency grant from the EED, a spinoff of the NED that was established by the US Congress to take over the CIA’s propaganda efforts to promote US policy and interests^[+]

7. we refer to Kyiv as a regime^[+] due to its oppressive and repressive policies, corruption, and foul treatment of its ethnic minorities, such as the ethnic Russians, violating their human rights, tyrannizing, and killing them since 2014.

8. MIA= missing in action

9. KIA = killed in action

10. POW = prisoner of war

11. Consciousness is not mere awareness or wakefulness but a subtle dimension of who we are, which when raised, is a constructive force that creates everything in our life, helps us make the right decisions as well as come up with the best ideas and solutions.