There was already a serious demographic issue in Russia, using people as canon fodder will exasperate that. Well, it would appear the war will solve itself, once the population declines enough
They are not winning, 1.2 million dead for approximately 2% of Ukrainian territory is not winning. The very fact that they have placed mentally and physically disabled people in the front tells you that
Yes I should be more specific. The absolute territory stolen by Russia is 19.4% enclosing the international boundaries of Ukraine. However the vast majority of this was when Ukraine was unprepared and not actively fighting. So since the point of maximum territory taken (Nov 2022) after the Ukrainian counter-offensives, Russia has increased it theft from 17.9% to 19.4%, I. E.
captured a grand total of 1.5%. The 1.2 million dead have taken 1.5%. My apologies for saying that it was 2%, I shall be more accurate from now on.
Is that the best you can do? You try to bullshit, then insult and finally whataboutism. I know better than most what happens to a small minority fighting to survive. Bottom line, an OAP in Russia thought that his strong army would roll over the entire country in a week, just like they have done for 400 years and found Ukraine much different from CCCP.
Mikhail, this is one of the clearest data-driven glimpses we’ve had into how Russia’s war is actually sustained — and the implications go far beyond a single division.
What your material shows is not just attrition. It is system design.
A formation that replaces itself twice over in a year is no longer a military unit in the classical sense. It is an extraction mechanism — converting manpower into territorial movement at a fixed, and extraordinarily high, human cost.
That connects directly to three dynamics we are only beginning to understand:
First, what happens to those who survive. A system built on expendability does not produce soldiers who can easily return to civilian life. It produces men shaped by extreme violence, weak leadership, and moral injury. That is a long-term societal cost Russia has barely begun to face.
(I explored this in “The Soldier Who Returns.”)
Second, the role of corruption and structural decay. Your data reinforces a pattern seen across the Russian military: protected rear structures, inflated reporting, and frontline units treated as disposable. The fact that “12 deaths” are recorded in a formation that likely lost thousands is not just falsification — it is governance failure embedded in the war machine.
(This is exactly the dynamic behind “Corruption Crippling the Russian Army.”)
Third, how war is perceived versus how it is fought. Online, the conflict is often reduced to maps, clips, and narratives of advance. But what you describe is something much darker: a system that depends on continuous human consumption to maintain the illusion of momentum.
(That gap is what I called “The Memefication of War.”)
What emerges from your findings is uncomfortable but important:
This war is not sustained because losses are low.
It is sustained because losses are absorbed.
And that tells us something critical about its trajectory.
A system like this does not collapse quickly.
But it accumulates consequences — militarily, economically, and socially — that eventually become impossible to contain.
The real question is not whether this model works in the short term.
It is what it does to a state that relies on it.
The Soldier Who Returns
War, Violence, and the Fragile Road Back to Civilian Life
We all know Dictators don’t give a flip about their soldiers or how many are sacrificed. To Putin, they are just war assets to fight and die needlessly for his glory.
So says the most egregious of the oligarchs created by the American State Department. The man who purchased Yukos Oil Company for under 1% of its true value, and then transferred it to Jacob Rothschild! It was immediately after this that Mi6 and the CIA started escalating preparations for a proxy war they had been engineering since 1943...
It’s really horrifying when you think about the men behind the numbers. Fathers and sons, brothers, boyfriends, and mates. When Lenin noted the road to hell was paved with good intentions, he might have meant wars like this included.
but not a centralized web page where the bits and pieces are tucked into a framework
also of interest to journalists as many “first person accounts” as possible with transcripts and translations and glossary… whatever easses their research efforts the more likely their editors/supervisors will green light articles/videos
It’s particularly interesting that Putin’s efforts to stay in power will in the end in an accelerated decline of the population… FYI, when the SU collapsed, Russia had a population of roughly 175 mio. Today, Russia has a population of roughly 145 mio. And this means that, it will be more and more difficult to fight wars, because the troops are being depleted as never seen before. It will also be difficult for Russia to conquer other countries and maintain a an occupation force for the same reasons.
Meanwhile, China is waiting. One day, Russia will be too weak to fight China’s momentarily refrained expansion policy into Russia’s Far East (remember the short war between the SU and China around the river Amur in the 60s. That’s not forgotten).
Putin tries to copy Stalin’s war tactics, except during Stalin’s era, the Russian population was increasing.
In other words, at one stage, Putin will be forced to end the war, by lack of military personal.
Newsflash, Skippy...the TRC is not Ukraine's military police. What you know of Ukraine could fit on the head of a pin with room left over for your "integrity" 🤣
The poor Russian girls are going to end up like British spinsters after WW I with no men to marry. Russia is being weakened by demographic disaster.
Imagine the plight of Ukraine, with higher losses and less than 1/10th the population.
WW I over again indeed.
There was already a serious demographic issue in Russia, using people as canon fodder will exasperate that. Well, it would appear the war will solve itself, once the population declines enough
It's an existential war for Russia. They will not quit. Ever.
This is why they are still winning.
They are not winning, 1.2 million dead for approximately 2% of Ukrainian territory is not winning. The very fact that they have placed mentally and physically disabled people in the front tells you that
2%? Can you read a map? Can you *find* Ukraine on a map?
Yes I should be more specific. The absolute territory stolen by Russia is 19.4% enclosing the international boundaries of Ukraine. However the vast majority of this was when Ukraine was unprepared and not actively fighting. So since the point of maximum territory taken (Nov 2022) after the Ukrainian counter-offensives, Russia has increased it theft from 17.9% to 19.4%, I. E.
captured a grand total of 1.5%. The 1.2 million dead have taken 1.5%. My apologies for saying that it was 2%, I shall be more accurate from now on.
https://substack.com/@deathdeathtotheidf/note/c-234111948?r=1pungh
Is that the best you can do? You try to bullshit, then insult and finally whataboutism. I know better than most what happens to a small minority fighting to survive. Bottom line, an OAP in Russia thought that his strong army would roll over the entire country in a week, just like they have done for 400 years and found Ukraine much different from CCCP.
Mikhail, this is one of the clearest data-driven glimpses we’ve had into how Russia’s war is actually sustained — and the implications go far beyond a single division.
What your material shows is not just attrition. It is system design.
A formation that replaces itself twice over in a year is no longer a military unit in the classical sense. It is an extraction mechanism — converting manpower into territorial movement at a fixed, and extraordinarily high, human cost.
That connects directly to three dynamics we are only beginning to understand:
First, what happens to those who survive. A system built on expendability does not produce soldiers who can easily return to civilian life. It produces men shaped by extreme violence, weak leadership, and moral injury. That is a long-term societal cost Russia has barely begun to face.
(I explored this in “The Soldier Who Returns.”)
Second, the role of corruption and structural decay. Your data reinforces a pattern seen across the Russian military: protected rear structures, inflated reporting, and frontline units treated as disposable. The fact that “12 deaths” are recorded in a formation that likely lost thousands is not just falsification — it is governance failure embedded in the war machine.
(This is exactly the dynamic behind “Corruption Crippling the Russian Army.”)
Third, how war is perceived versus how it is fought. Online, the conflict is often reduced to maps, clips, and narratives of advance. But what you describe is something much darker: a system that depends on continuous human consumption to maintain the illusion of momentum.
(That gap is what I called “The Memefication of War.”)
What emerges from your findings is uncomfortable but important:
This war is not sustained because losses are low.
It is sustained because losses are absorbed.
And that tells us something critical about its trajectory.
A system like this does not collapse quickly.
But it accumulates consequences — militarily, economically, and socially — that eventually become impossible to contain.
The real question is not whether this model works in the short term.
It is what it does to a state that relies on it.
The Soldier Who Returns
War, Violence, and the Fragile Road Back to Civilian Life
https://hansboserup.substack.com/p/the-soldier-who-returns?utm_source=publication-search
Corruption Crippling the Russian Army.
Horrifying Accounts from Russian Soldiers at the Front
https://hansboserup.substack.com/p/corruption-crippling-the-russian?utm_source=publication-search
The Memefication of War
When modern conflicts become internet content
https://hansboserup.substack.com/p/the-memefication-of-war?utm_source=publication-search
I wonder if calling dead soldiers missing is a way of getting around having to pay the families for the loss.
It is vital that Western Europe stand up to totalitarianism from both the west and east.
Why? Why is it vital?
We all know Dictators don’t give a flip about their soldiers or how many are sacrificed. To Putin, they are just war assets to fight and die needlessly for his glory.
I try to follow the war but the information is usually about Ukrainian drone kills.
Your information is tragic but makes perfect when knowing Russia’s history in war where men are disposable.
Do you also have information on the Russian soldiers who were wounded and rescued?
I watch many videos of Ukrainians rescuing their own wounded and the great care the Ukrainian medical workers provide to soldiers, even some Russians.
Please keep giving us news.
So says the most egregious of the oligarchs created by the American State Department. The man who purchased Yukos Oil Company for under 1% of its true value, and then transferred it to Jacob Rothschild! It was immediately after this that Mi6 and the CIA started escalating preparations for a proxy war they had been engineering since 1943...
It’s really horrifying when you think about the men behind the numbers. Fathers and sons, brothers, boyfriends, and mates. When Lenin noted the road to hell was paved with good intentions, he might have meant wars like this included.
Thanks. Great article with lots of detail. RU Army mindset hasn't changed and it's unlikely to ever do so.
Great piece.
What looks like a wartime necessity in Ukraine today may become a global standard tomorrow.Anti-drone teams. Private air defense. A new model of asset protection.Breakdown in the new article. 👇https://sashaantonov.substack.com/p/from-perimeter-to-sky-ukraine-is?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=5feb9f
So this is confirming what OSINT theorized over a year ago. Wow!
"follow the money"
if still on the rolls, did the army pay them? who got those paychecks?
Their commanders in many cases. Also bribes to get leave, or bullets or supplies. Oh it gets dark.
all of which of interest to USA civilians
but not a centralized web page where the bits and pieces are tucked into a framework
also of interest to journalists as many “first person accounts” as possible with transcripts and translations and glossary… whatever easses their research efforts the more likely their editors/supervisors will green light articles/videos
Major Media won't go there
Interviews exist in Ukraine, for example.
It’s particularly interesting that Putin’s efforts to stay in power will in the end in an accelerated decline of the population… FYI, when the SU collapsed, Russia had a population of roughly 175 mio. Today, Russia has a population of roughly 145 mio. And this means that, it will be more and more difficult to fight wars, because the troops are being depleted as never seen before. It will also be difficult for Russia to conquer other countries and maintain a an occupation force for the same reasons.
Meanwhile, China is waiting. One day, Russia will be too weak to fight China’s momentarily refrained expansion policy into Russia’s Far East (remember the short war between the SU and China around the river Amur in the 60s. That’s not forgotten).
Putin tries to copy Stalin’s war tactics, except during Stalin’s era, the Russian population was increasing.
In other words, at one stage, Putin will be forced to end the war, by lack of military personal.
Newsflash, Skippy...the TRC is not Ukraine's military police. What you know of Ukraine could fit on the head of a pin with room left over for your "integrity" 🤣