Russia said to have suffered largest loss since WW2, with up to quarter of a million dead
The war in Ukraine has caused Russia's armed forces to suffer their largest losses since the Second World War, according to the Ministry of Defence.
In an intelligence update on X, the MOD said Moscow's forces had probably sustained roughly 900,000 casualties – which counts both those killed and wounded.
Of this figure, the post stated it was likely that up to a quarter of a million had been killed.
On the MOD's page, it says the use of the word "likely" equates to a probability of between 55% and 75%.
"Russian President Putin and the Russian military leadership highly likely prioritise their conflict objectives over the lives of Russian soldiers," the post said.
The use of the term "highly likely" shows a probability of 80%-90%.
"They are almost certainly prepared to tolerate continuously high casualty rates so long as this war does not negatively affect public or elite support for the war, and those losses can be replaced," the post read.
It also outlined that it was "highly likely" that Vladimir Putin and other Russian leaders value the lives of ethnic minorities less.
Russian recruitment efforts consequently focused disproportionately on these areas, it pointed out.
"Slavic Russians from urban centres such as Moscow and St Petersburg have contributed disproportionately fewer service personnel than their poorer, ethnic minority compatriots," it read.
This comes as President Putin failed to agree to the US-proposed ceasefire, even though Ukraine did.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, stating he would support the 30-day ceasefire, said Russia had launched more than 40 drone strikes, including in the capital and Kyiv's surrounding areas.
Russia agreed to stop attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure but did not agree to a complete ceasefire like its Ukrainian counterparts.
In short, Ukraine, which Donald Trump has described as harder to work with than Russia, agreed to the deal, while Moscow did not.
Former UK defence secretary Ben Wallace, in a post on X, said: "Putin plays much better chess than Trump.
"Asking Ukraine to stop deep strikes and receiving foreign military aid and intelligence only favours Russia.
"I hope the UK will NOT become a party to another rotten Trump deal.
"The UK has its own data and intelligence to share if it wants to.
"The US doesn't hold all the cards."
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