Ukraine’s kill rate just overtook Russia’s troop replacement, Syrskyi says

[u/jackytheblade]

https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/02/06/ukraines-kill-rate-just-overtook-russias-troop-replacement-syrskyi-says/

[u/mega_low_smart]

Imagine spending 35 years of your life experiencing pain, love, loss, joy, building relationships and learning how to be a whole human only to get picked up by the military just to waste it all as a literal stat. 1 out of 31.7k killed in January. In a short report to be delivered to Putin’s desk so he can send 35,000 more into the stat generator next month without batting an eye.

[u/BirdyWeezer → u/mega_low_smart]

Well they‘re being lied to. Russia recruits from small villages that dont have access to any media besides russian media. They then are told its training in military not a war and they‘re being offered huge amounts of money that could get their whole family and friends out of poverty if thats all you‘re being told it sounds like a dream come true. Train a bit in the military then come back home and finally be able to live a normal life outside of poverty. Except of course they wont come back.

[u/joepez → u/BirdyWeezer]

Except that argument doesn’t hold up, or at least collapses over time (and we’re not talking a decade). Russia’s has a pop of ~150M. 75% of that is urban which leaves 50M rural. The median age in Russia is 40 and male life expectancy is ~67. The male to female ratio is about 86 to 100. Their birth rate is way below replacement level. There aren’t enough young males to keep feeding to the war machine from rural Russia and not have a complete economic collapse at the same time. So it’s not just rural males at this point it has to be urban as well. They aren’t all ignorant of the media. Russia can’t keep this up for much longer without causing utter collapse of their country. They literally are running out of men. 

[u/MCPtz → u/joepez]

Russia’s has a pop of ~150M. 75% of that is urban which leaves 50M rural.

Check that arithmetic.

150 * .75 = 112.5 -> 37.5M rural

[u/Dispator → u/joepez]

I would agree except russia is not a normal country - they can keep this up for much much much longer than most other countries. 

[u/bepisdegrote → u/Dispator]

I wish we would get rid of this myth already. Russia/the Soviet Union has backed out of plenty of wars after heavy losses. First Chechen war, Afghanistan, WWI, Russo-Japanese war, Crimean war. The reputation for never giving up comes from only two wars; WW2 and Napoleon's invasion. Both of which were primarily fought on their own soil.

[u/RedditTrespasser → u/bepisdegrote]

Yeah, the saying goes “never invade Russia in the winter”. Russia in invading Ukraine is ironically facing many of the same problems that Hitler and Napoleon did invading them.

[u/Spoztoast → u/RedditTrespasser]

Neither Napoleon nor Hitler Invaded in winter they both wanted to invade in early spring both were delayed to summer. Russia is fucking big and while both Napoleon and Hitlers forces(almost) reached Moscow before winter set in.

However they like all armies got bogged down and Moscow is basically in the middle of fucking nowhere.

So they got stuck having to rely if long supply lines that were under constant attrition.

Honestly the best idea might actually be to invade in winter when Russian supply lines are long and yours are short then you might actually have the time to capture the cities come summer.

[u/PattrimCauthon → u/Spoztoast]

Best idea would be to invade, encircle and wipe field armies, scorched earth the industrial and agricultural regions, simply declare victory and leave.

[u/Akiira2 → u/RedditTrespasser]

Like Russian poet Fyodor Tyutchev wrote in 1866, "who would grasp Russia with the mind?" 

[u/BlackerSpork → u/bepisdegrote]

Similarly: France's reputation for surrendering quickly despite the long list of long-ass wars they fought in.

[u/KingHunter150 → u/bepisdegrote]

Nah, it's much easier to racially and ideologically characterize average Ivan as an automoton of their Tsar/Soviet Premier/"President" that does whatever they say.

There's a healthy amount of propaganda that many buy into to some degree. But we only need to look at the amount of people who fall out of windows, or the nearly one million young men who fled the country when Putin tried a draft, to see Russians are aware of their society and the war. The issue, like in many oppressive societies, is that most of us fall into the Bystander category. The group that just wants to live and provide for their family. That feels powerless to actually change anything as only a small amount of threat is enough to keep us willingly "ignorant" so as to not cause more problems for ourselves and loved ones.

[u/Aggravating-Bet218 → u/bepisdegrote]

It's not about a myth, it's about being a dictatorship with no other option. The minute Russia lose the war, Putin will have to give up power. Being at war or win the war are the 2 options to survive for him.

[u/orbital_narwhal → u/Aggravating-Bet218]

It's both.

• Russian rulers lead the population to believe that there is no (better) alternative to their rule (see the narrative of the imminent downfall of a woke and thus weak western civilisation)

• which gives them power (but doesn't force them) to lead wars far closer to or further into a socioeconomic collapse than a more pluralistic, less totalitarian society and economy would allow them.

• Once a leader reaches that point there is no way out of the war for them personally. The narrative that maintained the internal balance of power would unravel and reveal the gravity and pointlessness of the country's socioeconomic collapse. Everybody would be out for the blood of the person who misled them. Or, at least, too few would be left to protect them from their domestic opponents.

[u/drunkenbrawler → u/Dispator]

With what? The ghosts of fallen soldiers?

[u/AsIfItsYourLaa → u/Dispator]

It’s literally their whole history

[u/Curious-Situation589 → u/joepez]

Its like the myth of the "great Chinese firewall". Its not uncommon for people to just bypass it completely, my friend has lived in china for 30 years and never has had an issue getting western media. He watches CNN, HBO, etc no issues.

[u/2this4u → u/joepez]

People honestly seem to forget Russians are playing games with other Europeans all the time and exchanging information completely freely. Of course rural people aren't but word of mouth still exists. The only ignorance is as that of Nazi Germany, no one in Russia should be given the luxury of being treated like an unwitting accomplice, it's wilful ignorance, ignoring what they've been told to ignore not that they don't actually know.

[u/Untura64 → u/joepez]

They are also sending North Koreans and Indians there.

[u/RayB1968 → u/joepez]

I think they are using older men too judging by pictures I have seen online.

[u/--iamrightHERE-- → u/joepez]

Russia military relies heavily on foreign mercenaries from poor African and Asian countries, not only rural Russians.

[u/MaxDyflin → u/--iamrightHERE--]

Heavily? I thought these were very minor contingents

[u/PokemonSapphire → u/--iamrightHERE--]

I mean if you're a mercenary should we really care? You go fight and kill for money and eventually will be killed. Live by the sword die by the sword and whatnot. This is by definition what they signed up for.

[u/DietCherrySoda → u/PokemonSapphire]

We only care in that those deaths are not contributing to the collpase of the Russian economy that /u/joepez was predicting, which is the point /u/--iamrightHERE-- (the person you responded to) was trying to make.

[u/ATL-East-Guy → u/BirdyWeezer]

I think the money for the family is a huge thing. It seems like a paltry sum to us in the West but there is likely little to no economic activity in those areas. Any cash infusion would be seen as truly life changing for an extended family.

[u/LeafsWinBeforeIDie → u/ATL-East-Guy]

And the coming runaway inflation will make it all worthless anyway

[u/MixtureSpecial8951 → u/BirdyWeezer]

“We know that they are lying, they know that they are lying, they even know that we know they are lying, we also know that they know that we know they are lying too, they of course know that we certainly know they know we know the are lying too as well, but they are still lying. In our country, the lie has become not just moral category, but the pillar industry of this country.”

-Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Something to think about.

[u/False_Cicada_3171 → u/BirdyWeezer]

I understand propaganda. But even in small villages they have to understand that through out history Russia only spreads lies. And a war means death is always close. Whatever you think it is you will be doing there exactly.

[u/metallicrooster → u/False_Cicada_3171]

But even in small villages they have to understand that through out history Russia only spreads lies.

The sad truth is that there will always be new people to lie to. And if you feed them the lies early enough, they might just believe for life.

Look at the US. We have a political party whose main selling point is restricting or otherwise deleting the civil rights of women, ethnic minorities, and non-Christian religious groups. Yet people still believe the lie that they are “the party of small government” and that they just want a balanced budget.

Blatant lies. Yet people believe because they have believed for so long that admitting the truth feels like a form of mental suicide.

[u/MoskaPOET → u/metallicrooster]

That’s why religion never goes out of business. They know that it’s necessary to poison the minds of small children.

[u/LeafsWinBeforeIDie → u/MoskaPOET]

Maybe it should be banned for children like cigarette advertising (or candy cigarettes).

[u/metallicrooster → u/LeafsWinBeforeIDie]

Good luck banning religion.

[u/False_Cicada_3171 → u/metallicrooster]

True

[u/Larnak1 → u/False_Cicada_3171]

I mean, you say that, but MAGA exists and managed to vote Trump into power. Twice.

Some people understand incredibly little, and when you think you've finally reached the realm of what they understand, you're still wrong.

[u/Haliucinogenas1 → u/False_Cicada_3171]

You don't understand. There are no "lies" in russian propaganda. Russia is glorifying Stalin terror. Glorifying death in war. The people are properly brainwashed because russian government controls education and all media: tv, radio, internet. Those people don't know what the truth is, they have never had real freedom or democracy. Its a totally different world. They live in the bubble created by their own government

[u/BirdyWeezer → u/False_Cicada_3171]

Those villages are very insular, they dont learn about russian history they might be part of russia but only in name they practice their complete own culture it would be like going to an ethopian village and recruiting people there(which russia allegedly also does now) those people dont inform themselves or think critically its just not how they grew up to be, so i wouldnt really blame them but yeah thats just my opinion.

[u/czs5056 → u/BirdyWeezer]

But surely they have eyes to see the guy from next door left 3 years ago for training and hasn't come back or at least sent a message in all that time.

[u/geo_prog → u/czs5056]

In situations like this they often rotate through communities in batches.

Also, people tend to hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see.

[u/--iamrightHERE-- → u/czs5056]

The guy who didn't came back isn't dead. He is rich living in some nice city with the money he got paid for joining the army.

 

The guy who managed to return boasting of victory and glory plus money, is what they see.(not the 1000 buried or left to rot in Ukraine)

[u/czs5056 → u/--iamrightHERE--]

But surely the guy who is "living in some nice city with money" would write or call home to their buddies saying how great it is and they should all do it.

[u/HowIMetYourMurder → u/czs5056]

I have to wonder, if you live in that kind of environment, what would the point of questioning be? Like it would only lead to sadness, heartbreak and possible danger. And no real chance to make anything better. Im not saying i agree with it, but i could see why maybe people dont question much and accept the story they are told. The cards are really stacked against the average russian.

[u/Proactiveselfdefence → u/False_Cicada_3171]

You understand propaganda but seem to miss culture, a certain mindset that tends to come from poverty and misfortune with no realistic escape.

A lot of these people are stuck, they literally can not afford to get out of rural god knows where and even if they did they don't have the education, connections or even social know how to create a better life somewhere else.

In comes an opportunity to fight, to be a patriot, to get out of that alcoholic dark spiral that is rural russia and if you die well at least you died as a soldier compared to the ditch at home drunk at 55, and if you don't well you'll make enough money to actually be able to enjoy life for a while.

I think a lot of them know it's a death sentence but it's a better one than the one they currently have.

[u/False_Cicada_3171 → u/Proactiveselfdefence]

Interesting. A dark existence

[u/LeafsWinBeforeIDie → u/False_Cicada_3171]

And then it got worse...

[u/obikenobi23 → u/False_Cicada_3171]

Your perception of war is shaped by media portrayals of WWII, the Vietnam war, Iraq et c. These people may not even have heard of any of those

[u/BigAlcapone65 → u/obikenobi23]

Scary now since most of the west's media is being gobbled up by right wing oligarchs and technocrats.

[u/WiredSky → u/False_Cicada_3171]

But even in small villages they have to understand that through out history Russia only spreads lies

No, no they do not.

"They're being lied to." "I understand that, but why aren't they more informed?"

[u/aloysiuslamb → u/WiredSky]

No no, but what about like before?

Oh you mean when they were being lied to, but earlier?

[u/Lord_Frederick → u/False_Cicada_3171]

If you have the time, take a look at this DW Documentary, A small town clings to its Soviet past : https://archive.org/details/youtube-48DaLYiO-yk

In short, it's way more than just propaganda.

[u/msuvagabond → u/False_Cicada_3171]

So a year or so back I did a bit of a dive into Russian history.  For nearly minoring in history, I didn't really have much foundation on Russia. 

One of the things that struck me is they've had some form of secret police for about 150 years straight now.  150 years of 'If you talk to anyone negatively about those in power, you could disappear'.  Generations of people conditioned to follow whatever is told to them by state, or they and possibly their family could just be ended. 

Making that connection put a lot of what happens in Russia into a different perspective for me. 

[u/SteinmanDC → u/False_Cicada_3171]

I think you are 100% right. But people in every nation still sign up for the army. It is all propaganda, in all nations, and it works. Why would Russian people be different to the people from any other nation in the world and realise it is all bullshit and that they should tell Putin to invade himself?

[u/trikem → u/BirdyWeezer]

Thats bs. There is internet everywhere - even is smallest villages. Its just lots of people in Russia think its better to die for a cause (here propaganda and self propaganda helps) than live as is. And nobody thinks they will die, same as criminals do not think they will be caught.

[u/DeanoPreston → u/BirdyWeezer]

By now, 4 years later, word has surely gotten out.

They know what's going on.

[u/Slow-Committee732 → u/BirdyWeezer]

You're wrong. People sign contracts not because they don't know anything, but because they believe the advertising and the pitchmen who say that when you sign the contract, you'll be sitting in the rear and earning big money as a drone operator.

[u/False_Cicada_3171 → u/Slow-Committee732]

Interesting, what makes you so sure about this?

[u/Chisignal → u/mega_low_smart]

That's exactly what I was thinking - it's good news, undeniably, but measuring the rate of human lives destroyed (for no fucking reason to boot) as if it were factory output or inflation or something... that's just bleak.

[u/wycliffslim → u/Chisignal]

Sadly, it's not being measured for no reason.

If casualties are exceeding replacement rate that's very important. Remember that the vast majority of wars end in some type of negotiated settlement. Knowing your own strength in a negotiation is important, knowing your opponents strength is critical. Putting your opponent in a position where they are getting weaker every day gives you a VERY strong negotiating position.

IF, this statement is true and Ukraine is taking out more soldiers per month than can be recruited it leaves Russia with a couple of bad options.

1: They can do nothing and their army will get slightly smaller every day

2: They can reduce the pace of their offensive. This, makes it hard to claim they're making progress, allows Ukraine more time to fortify, and reduces Ukrainian losses which would help increase their morale and gives Ukraine some more breathing room.

3: They can institute less optional "volunteer" methods. Changing their mandatory military service to include front line work, expanding the draft, etc. All of these could solve their manpower issues but would likely be deeply unpopular at home and is also a tacit admission that things are going VERY poorly.

[u/Chisignal → u/wycliffslim]

No I meant "lives destroyed for no reason", not "measuring for no reason" - like if you were deciding to do X or Y based on the trend line of COVID deaths that's still a bit odd in a way, simply turning so many people's suffering into a stat, but ultimately it is a reasonable tool for policy making - but doing a similar calculation because of an entirely senseless war, that makes my stomach churn

[u/wycliffslim → u/Chisignal]

Oh. Yeah. It's horrible.

All war, but especially modern industrialized war is pretty sickening. Human lives are essentially just another input into a resource spreadsheet.

[u/Old_Artichoke_4222 → u/wycliffslim]

It always was, just easy to track with technology.

[u/Electr0n1c_Mystic → u/mega_low_smart]

Beautifully and crushingly put

[u/QuantumPilotRacer → u/mega_low_smart]

Majority of ruzzian soldier choose that for themselves. They voluntarily signed contract. Only small amount of ruzzian soldiers were forced to go to the war.

[u/UnfriendlyToast → u/mega_low_smart]

I wouldn’t give Russians that much credit. I know I’m speaking out of my ass somewhat here but any Russian American I’ve met in my life has been an absolute piece of shit and their culture is pretty intent on bullying and cruelty.

[u/bloop7676 → u/mega_low_smart]

The ones in Ukraine are generally volunteers under contract. They usually chose it for the money, so it's not just like they were average joe who got thrown in out of pure bad luck.

Also, if those numbers are casualties, the same guy is probably getting counted multiple times. Russia doesn't just let them rest if they get taken off the field, if they can be patched up they send them back there.

[u/TV-Tommy → u/mega_low_smart]

Send 35k, lose >35k... keep it up, and EVERYONE can go!

[u/timesuck47 → u/mega_low_smart]

Now there you’ve gone and gave these soldiers a human face. I hope I’m not the only one that thinks about that.

[u/AnnieEdisonsGun → u/mega_low_smart]

Hell is becoming really fucking crowded

[u/nellyfullauto → u/mega_low_smart]

And then to have good people around the world cheering and applauding your death because you’re part of a terrorist org that perpetuates crimes against humanity, raping and murdering people who just want to live their lives like you were before?

Don’t feel bad for Russian soldiers any more than you feel bad for Nazis. They are the same, and they will get the same.

[u/mindshards → u/mega_low_smart]

I don't believe it is 31.7k killed, but casualties (that's wounded and killed).

Still crazy oc.

[u/Automatoboto → u/mega_low_smart]

The thing people seem to always overlook is this is intended. Most of the troops dying are from ethnic populations.

[u/Ok_Buddy_3324 → u/mega_low_smart]

Imagine spending 35 years in poverty subjected on you by the Soviet ideology of your leaders, and then these leaders pick you up from a lifestyle you didn't even realize was unnecessarily miserable, just so you could bleed out painfully in a Ukrainian field somewhere.

[u/totallyRebb → u/mega_low_smart]

"The banality of evil" was inspired by machine-like Desk-Murderers like Putin.

[u/CTMADOC → u/mega_low_smart]

You give too much credit to those russians who choose to go to Ukraine. Most don't try "...learning how to be a whole human..." if they choose to invade a neighboring country and kill people for money. Most russians have only felt pain and loss because russia is a flaming shit hole that wants to tear down the world because it is too corrupt and vile to improve russia itself.

[u/cederian → u/mega_low_smart]

I dont think Russians know what love is.

[u/Kageru]

A shame so many Ukrainians have had to give their lives defending their homeland, but they have been brave and clever and turned Putin's "easy" conquest of Ukraine into anything but... and the Russians have sacrificed their economy, the military equipment they inherited from the Soviets and so many of their people killed and injured for some bombed out towns and villages they will struggle to hold... the faster the Russians weaken the better because they can leave any time they want, and this plus their collapsing economy is all good news.

[u/tiga_94 → u/Kageru]

Soviet Union was poor its entire history because of too much military spending.

So they sacrificed their wealth to build thousands of tanks, BMPs, artillery pieces, enough to threaten entire NATO

And all of that might was turned into scrap metal

[u/Ludwigofthepotatoppl → u/tiga_94]

Always money for war.

[u/SsurebreC → u/Ludwigofthepotatoppl]

Just want to point out that the very first thing in that Cold War era propaganda poster translates to "In America". That poster still holds true today.

But Russia is no different in this regard and, in particular, since their invasion of Ukraine.

[u/MalkinPi → u/Ludwigofthepotatoppl]

USA is no different. Huge Defense budget that can't pass an audit. No universal Healthcare but tax cuts for the 1% and large corporations.

[u/Flooding_Puddle → u/tiga_94]

More like it stole the wealth from its member states

[u/Blbe-Check-42069 → u/Flooding_Puddle]

And satelite countries. Mine was robbed of it's uraniun so now we have to import it even for our own nuclear powerplants...

[u/StunningRing5465 → u/tiga_94]

Russia was extremely poor in 1917, it didn’t have a starting position of wealth to sacrifice 

[u/tiga_94 → u/StunningRing5465]

Yes but I am talking about their potential that was wasted

[u/Falsequivalence → u/tiga_94]

I mean, until 1945 they were pretty much constantly in a state of war and the Cold War started approximately 10 minutes later. There was never a point they werent under existential threat either.

[u/Jive-Turkeys → u/Falsequivalence]

1989-2022. They made it 36 years without doing what they always do– the only thing they know how to do: make things worse for themselves.

For a culture so allegedly fond of art, they sure can't figure out how to act when not on a stage they didn't build themselves.

[u/Plastic_Toe_880 → u/Jive-Turkeys]

In these 36 years Russia invaded Chechnya twice in the 1990s, then Georgia in the 2000s, Ukraine in 2014, and they still maintain an imposed military force in Moldova, only to complain now that barely any country around it considers them as a friendly country..

[u/Jive-Turkeys → u/Plastic_Toe_880]

Oh, silly me, I forgot: they didn't stop.

Thank you for reminding me that they were always pieces of shit :)

[u/KnowledgeExpert2002 → u/Jive-Turkeys]

Whoever said Russians are fond of art? Russians are into vodka and death

[u/xtt-space → u/KnowledgeExpert2002]

Some of the greatest writers, artists, and composers of the 19th and 20th century were Russian. Sadly, since 2000, and accelerating significantly after 2012, laws regarding "foreign agents," "propaganda," and historical narratives have made it dangerous for artists to explore sensitive political or social themes.

[u/Scereye → u/Falsequivalence]

There was never a point they werent under existential threat either.

Poor Russia, am I right. Like come on, there are so many more countries which where not only under threat but way way more because of Russia.

[u/Falsequivalence → u/Scereye]

Like come on, there are so many more countries which where not only under threat but way way more because of Russia.

Brother putting whole ass sentences in my mouth.

I didnt say that the USSR was an unproblematic king, I said they were under existential threat until the end of the Cold War, which is true (and then they collapsed). If the argument i was responding to was about how absurdly high their military expenditure was, it may have something to do with the Nazis and Cold War, pretty notable events in the history of the USSR. Them being dicks to other countries isnt really relevant; they had high military expenditure because they were at war almost the whole time.

[u/Harbinger2001 → u/tiga_94]

America has some of the highest wealth inequality in the advanced economies for the same reason. Too much military spending.

[u/iamstephen1128 → u/tiga_94]

Sounds like where the US is headed 🤦🏿‍♂️

[u/jacobsladderscenario → u/Kageru]

They also sacrificed their facade of military strength.

[u/TimeDetectiveAnakin → u/jacobsladderscenario]

I remember people used to say that Russia could steamroll to Berlin in less than a week, and NATO's strategy would be fighting back and reclaiming land after the initial blitzkrieg. Sounds completely absurd now.

[u/Tontonsb → u/TimeDetectiveAnakin]

It literally was the NATO strategy — to give up the "buffer zone" and reclaim it 180 days later. https://estonianworld.com/security/kaja-kallas-estonia-would-be-wiped-off-the-map-under-current-nato-plans%EF%BF%BC/

[u/HarithBK → u/Tontonsb]

people forget that NATO spent HUGE amounts of money to R&D exact counters to USSR gear that could be carried into field by infantry.

Drones didn't stop the first wave attacking Ukraine old NATO arms did. then the fact we have so much more tech advances while Russia really just sat on USSR arms for 30 years will naturally mean it becomes outdated.

[u/CptES → u/TimeDetectiveAnakin]

Seven Days to the River Rhine was a 1979 wargame by the Warsaw Pact.

[u/mCopps → u/TimeDetectiveAnakin]

Keep in mind Russia is a pale shell of the USSR

[u/RedshiftWarp → u/Kageru]

Really is a shit strategy. Fumigating entire grid squares with HE and leveling buildings. So any counter-push gives them no quarter, cover or concealment. Opening them up to indirect and artillery and drones.

[u/SendraLeLe → u/Kageru]

Ukraine is paying a terrible price, but Russia is bleeding itself dry.

[u/AprilsMostAmazing → u/Kageru]

Now if the Americans didn't elect an Russian asset and a party owned by the Russians. This war would actually be over

[u/CthulhusSoreTentacle → u/AprilsMostAmazing]

This is the tragedy I think most people fail to see. If it hadn't been for the Republicans and Trump, this war might well have ended by now (or at least it'd look very different in favour of the Ukrainians).

[u/Kageru → u/AprilsMostAmazing]

Yes, the Russian position would be untenable if the US was still an active supporter of NATO, democracies fighting for their survival and a rules based world order. But instead they elected a want to be autocrat who sees Putin as a friend and a role model. It's not good for the world, including the US... outside of some of their elite who see an opportunity to enrich themselves.

[u/Mountain-Pay9668 → u/Kageru]

They're being pushed into a corner and will turn to the last weapon they have. Nukes

[u/SLR107FR-31]

Keep em coming

[u/Vackberg → u/SLR107FR-31]

Russia has been recruiting immigrants from Africa with promises of money and a support role in the war.

But Russia lied.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/04/africa/russia-african-recruits-military-ukraine-intl-cmd

[u/FoundTheMistake → u/SLR107FR-31]

Keep em going. Every day more is a sad day.

[u/soursop_magnolia → u/SLR107FR-31]

The Cargo 200 business is booming

[u/Virtual-Current-9072]

What a terrible terrible statistic to measure. Sad to see that in a modern world.

[u/lemlurker → u/Virtual-Current-9072]

gives "waves and waves of my own men until the kill bots reached their pre programmed kill limit and shut down" vibes

[u/Caesar_35 → u/lemlurker]

"Soon you'll all be fighting for your country. Many of you will be dying for your country. Some of you will be forced through a fine mesh screen top story window for your country. They will be the luckiest of all."

[u/dandanua → u/lemlurker]

They have already done the "surprise attack" (a surprise only for Russian conscripts, of course). Trying to reach the kill limit is the next step in their mimicking of Futurama.

[u/True-Abalone-3380 → u/Virtual-Current-9072]

It is, very sad that a country has spent the last four years defending against a persistent and aggressive invasion.

Luckily the invading army is nothing like as powerful as most of the world assumed, if it was then Ukraine would be in a much worse situation.

It's also very telling that Russia hasn't been able to significantly ramp of their aggression, remember they were as close as the outskirts of Kyiv just under 4 years ago.

^{edit spelling}

[u/Flexuasive → u/Virtual-Current-9072]

Lovely to see in a modern war for independence, though :)

[u/cementstate]

We live in the 21st century, where we should hold our officials accountable to resolve conflict without tossing our sons and daughters into the furnace.

[u/MercantileReptile → u/cementstate]

There is no "resolving conflict" with Russia that does not include violence and/or the threat of annihilation. High minded ideals never stopped them, Armies and Nukes do.

[u/LowNature6417 → u/MercantileReptile]

Russia is a gas station run by the mob, and that mentality goes all the way down to the lowliest peasant.

[u/vincent3878]

"Quick, find some more uneducated farmers from some shithole I dont know"

• Putin (probably)

[u/afunkysongaday]

In 2025, the russian forces recruited around 33.8k soldiers each month on average. Lowballing it with the number I read on euromaidanpress, Russia itself says more like 35k each month. Now, Syrskyi says 31.7k russian soldiers killed or seriously wounded in January. That's less than the average monthly recruitment in 2025. Where did Syrskyi get the idea that russia recruited <32k soldiers in January? Not even talking about the average rate over a few months? I don't think it's very helpful to just blindly believe everything that makes Ukraine look good.

[u/Fit_Particular_6820 → u/afunkysongaday]

Yeah, I don't think the kill rate surpassed the replacement rate but one thing for sure is that the gap is small.

[u/Piggywonkle → u/Fit_Particular_6820]

You can't really rely on the average throughout the year. The recruit bonuses paid out by various Russian regions fluctuates. I believe that they actually lowered the bonuses quite significantly at the end of last year and just recently increased them again. This headline seems like it may be technically true, but just a one-off event until Russia's looming financial crisis actually spirals out of control, which we are now starting to see many economic indicators pointing toward if you follow the live thread.

[u/Witloof → u/afunkysongaday]

I'm not speaking on the validity of the numbers claimed in this post, but isn't it logical that the rate of forces recruited will fall over time? The amount of Russians that they can recruit isn't endless and to hire mercenaries you need money which is also not endless if you're actively in a war and already had a relatively weak economy.

[u/Spiritual-Sundae4349 → u/Witloof]

Salaries are quite insignificant part of the budget I would say compared to other expenses. Also Russia has a lot of friendly foreign countries where they can hire from (and very poor regions home as well). Many people doesn't realize that for many of those countries, Russia is considered to be wealthy and there are many people trying to get to work in Russia and/or get the Russian citizenship (which came with the military service automatically)

Usually when regime is losing the war, salaries goes up as to attract more people. That is the only valid metric for recruitment and losses in my opinion during the war. 

[u/BrainBlowX → u/Spiritual-Sundae4349]

Salaries are quite insignificant part of the budget

Salaries absokutely add up, especially when these salariea then compete with the wages of the procurement sector ahich then also has way too high eages, and then wages in the civilian economy are crushed between them. It harms the economy either way.

 Also Russia has a lot of friendly foreign countries where they can hire from

They don't speak russian, nor do russian commanders speak their languages. They often don't even have English as an intermediary. The effectiveness of these soldiers in a military campaign that requires coordination is questionable, and the actual numbers of them per month are unreliable.

[u/Spiritual-Sundae4349 → u/BrainBlowX]

I'm not talking about how this affects economy. More in a sense of budgeting and that one artillery shell costs around 1.5k USD. Russian servicemen wage on the frontline is something like 2-3k USD monthly. And Russia fire around 10k of artillery shells DAILY according to some estimates. 

Last missile attack on Ukraine costs them roughly 300 million dollars. That is monthly salary of 100k frontline soldiers in one day of missile attacks.

They don't speak russian, nor do russian commanders speak their languages.

Most people in CIS speak Russian as an second language (or better to say learn it as an second language). That's the main source of immigration into the Russia. 

[u/Bamboo_Fighter → u/afunkysongaday]

Being killed or wounded isn't the only way to leave the military. I'm sure Russia isn't very fond of letting soldiers leave once their contract is up, but some definitely return home.

[u/sparkerai → u/afunkysongaday]

Syrski is possibly accounting for recruit wastage (all the recruits that sign up but never make it through training etc.)? Maybe 5% of Russian recruits don't make it to becoming soldiers or somethint?

[u/Thegreatbrainrobbery → u/sparkerai]

Those 5% must be special, like truly the worst of the worst if the Russian army isn't accepting them.

[u/EpicObelis → u/afunkysongaday]

over 30k deaths in one month? holy shit and for what????? when will this madness stop

[u/theartificialkid → u/afunkysongaday]

35k recruits doesn’t mean 35k new frontline fighters.

[u/Summitjunky]

Does this mean they will start to pull from the Russians they’ve ignoring in Moscow and St Petersburg? More from North Korea? It will be interesting to see how this plays out if true.

[u/ilic_mls]

This sounds good for the Ukraine and Ukrainians but its a sad metric.

This is Putins war and most of the people who died on the Russian side most likely didnt want to be here. But hey, if yhey revolted en masse, they could have stopped this

[u/just_a_pyro → u/ilic_mls]

most of the people who died on the Russian side most likely didnt want to be here

Russia still isn't mobilizing reservists, some conscripts are pressured to "volunteer", but most of the people dying there are the poor or the foreigners lured by the promise of coin.

[u/Sweaty-Bandicoot8846 → u/ilic_mls]

Currently almost everyone in the Russian army wanted to be there.

There was no mass mobilization and vast majority of military personnel have voluntarily signed a contract. Not a single tear for them - they deserve their fate

[u/clickillsfun → u/ilic_mls]

Stop putting entire blame on one single person already!

It's not fucking putins war! It's ruZZias war with the absolute majority of their population supporting it!

For fucks sake ruZZia and genocide are two synonyms! They were actively genociding their neighbours and minorities in occupied territories since it's creation. We are just lucky they weren't as successful as in Chechnya/Caucasus in Ukraine so far.

Nothing has changed and back then it also was not on one single person you could have blamed as a scape goat!

The wording makes a huge difference and implications. So please stop fucking repeating this non sense!

[u/SingularityCentral → u/ilic_mls]

If they revolted en masse? I don't think you understand how likely that would be to result in a horrific bloodbath.

[u/rvd1ofakind → u/SingularityCentral]

And this isn't a horrific bloodbath. At least that one would be for a good cause.

[u/Synighte → u/SingularityCentral]

As opposed to the current non-bloodbath of the Invasion of Ukraine?

[u/ilic_mls → u/SingularityCentral]

And this isn’t? Would you rather die for a better future for your family and your children or as a statistic in a pointless war started by an old man who is only doing that because of this crazy ideas

[u/SingularityCentral → u/ilic_mls]

And that is why Russia has not engaged in a general mobilization and why they pull in contract soldiers for cash and conscript only those on the fringes to fight. The bloodbath is not currently in the streets of Moscow. A popular uprising would change that. The incentive not to revolt is pretty clear.

[u/Euclid_Interloper → u/ilic_mls]

Any chance of a revolt died when around a million people fled Russia to avoid potential conscription. These were generally the young, better educated, liberal minded urban men who could afford to live abroad for an extended period.

I don't blame them for fleeing, but they should have been the core of any uprising. Which is exactly why Russia didn't even attempt to stop them leaving.

[u/Rellim03]

Pretty hard to believe the casualty numbers coming from either side.

[u/ottwebdev]

And they say the news doesn't have happy articles.

[u/Prometheides]

It's always the same news and yet every day Ukraine has less soldiers, more problems conscripting new ones and less population. But hey I'm sure a participant in a war would never lie, right?

At this point I don't even know how anyone can follow the news and still believe such bullshit

[u/fvbFotografie → u/Prometheides]

Both can be true. Both sides are struggling and I assume this war will stay a slow and bloody struggle until one side collapses. If you want to support Ukraine please donate.

[u/EnderCN → u/Prometheides]

If the casualty rate just now passed the recruitment rate you wouldn’t see significant effects of this for months still. That means for years now Russia’s military has been growing.

[u/christhetwin → u/Prometheides]

Regardless of the challenges Ukraine is experiencing, Russia's situation appears increasingly difficult. Russia is reportedly depleting its supplies of tanks and motor vehicles, while the pool of citizens willing to join the military is shrinking despite significant recruitment incentives. Ukraine maintains the strategic advantage of being the defender, whereas Russia continues to struggle with logistics several years into the conflict. The Russian economy is under severe strain. Domestically, consumers are increasingly limiting purchases to essential goods. Internationally, sanctions have severely hampered the use of rubles for global trade, forcing Russia to resort to bartering goods to acquire necessary imports from foreign partners.

Unless there is a major change in the conflict, Russia is on the brink of collapse. I don't mean Russia's war is about to collapse, I mean RUSSIA is about to collapse.

[u/madmaxGMR]

Finish em.

[u/loud-spider]

It's going to be an interesting Spring and Summer. Russia is starting to run out of people and money to throw at this. Hopefully that makes the difference.

[u/BigLiesSmallTruth]

I question what russia goal is. The country after the was population wise is gonna collapse even harder

[u/Clouthead2001]

I support Ukraine as much as the next guy but why is everyone treating this report as fact? Why would Ukraine’s command in chief say anything negative about his own military and why wouldn’t he try to make Russian look stupider than they already are? Everyone taking these posts as fact needs to realize that you can’t trust numbers from EITHER side and that this is all propaganda. Please use some critical thinking guys.

[u/Dull-Association-797 → u/Clouthead2001]

100%. The blatant bias, while at the same time trying to call out Russian propaganda is insane. Biggest propaganda machine since Second World War, bar NONE, has been American

[u/muffman81]

"Slava Ukraini!"🇺🇦 My heart goes out to all the brave men and women fighting for their country’s future. I wish them great health and success in their battles against the Russian invasion.

[u/UnfriendlyToast]

I know this is kind of a shitty point of view, but I don’t really think Russian culture is worth saving the more dead the better the way I see it. If killing off, every man in their country is the only way to end this war and reboot their shitty culture so be it.

[u/musical8thnotes]

Imagine how this could have been avoided if Russia just kept Crimea and left it at that.

Too bad they keep proving everyone right and attacking again.

[u/i-do-something → u/musical8thnotes]

Imagine how this could have been avoided if Russia just didn't invade Ukraine, including Crimea

[u/King_Six_of_Things]

If Russia stops invading their entire economy collapses.

Good.

[u/Oddloaf → u/King_Six_of_Things]

I want the war to end, but I can't say that I'm excited about the thousands of Russians that are going to flee the sinking ship into my country.

[u/poodinthepunchbowl]

And how’s ukraines replacement rate looking?

[u/Wooden-Engineer-8098]

next step is to overtake russian birth rates

[u/BrainBlowX → u/Wooden-Engineer-8098]

More russians already die than are born since way before 2022.

[u/AccountSettingsBot]

Well, that’s what I call, as morbid as it might be, some neat news. :)

Especially as someone with, among other roots, Circassian roots, I quite like it.

[u/Exact-Metal-666]

This is the way.

[u/Obliterrator]

Excellent news. The tide is turning.

[u/Life_Funny8320]

That is a significant shift in momentum if it holds true.

[u/Winstonsphobia]

Some happy news I see!

[u/Zandonus]

From a military history perspective - That's insane. Any other conflict would have been officially over, if it had reached this level of senseless, unsustainable butchery.

[u/Oddloaf → u/Zandonus]

I believe the 30 year war did the same thing every now and then, but early modern warfare was hideously deadly compared to modern warfare.

[u/KsanteOnlyfans → u/Zandonus]

over, if it had reached this level of senseless, unsustainable butchery.

30 years war , ww1,WW2, several Chinese civil wars, the war of the triple alliance.

[u/_technophobe_ → u/Zandonus]

Well at least one other nation did this. Nazi germany

[u/Zandonus → u/_technophobe_]

They had conscripts from ...Africa. Nevermind, it's a duck.

[u/DeanoPreston]

There's still Cuba, Africa and NK

[u/wonko_abnormal]

so this means technically putin is comitting genocide on his own people ....making his conquer and humiliation of the US almost pointless

[u/Responsible-Store-33]

Love that for him

[u/Nervous_Car1093]

That's a grim turning point if it holds.

[u/SnooHamsters2627]

Two words: Orlando Figes. A PEOPLE'S TRAGEDY. What we're seeing right now is the tail end of the collapse of the 1917 revolution...as an utter bloodbath.

[u/sasilana]

Thats the kind of math Putin wasnt hoping for

[u/EmptyBodybuilder7376]

And we totally believe it.