Moscow’s invasion forces in eastern Ukraine are losing ground and have suffered a new monthly high of more than 50,000 Russian troop casualties in September, with as many as 28,000 killed.
Single-day casualties hit 2,090 on Sept. 28, after 1,960 Sept. 17 — among the highest daily losses recorded during more than four and a half years of war. Since Moscow’s 2022 invasion, more than 400,000 Russian workers in uniform have been killed, a staggering figure the Kremlin tries to keep hidden from the Russian people.
After insisting over and over prior to Russia’s Sept. 18-20 parliamentary election that his regime had no intention of ordering a new round of conscription, Vladimir Putin has now called for 120,000 fresh soldiers, aiming to boost Russia’s army to over 1.5 million troops. And the regime has moved to block all reservists from leaving the country. The last mobilization four years ago triggered widespread protests and tens of thousands emigrated.
Moscow’s call for conscription is especially aimed at the oppressed nationalities and migrant workers in the Russian Federation, at the same time it is looking to recruit new layers of foreign troops. Over 8,000 North Korean soldiers have been deployed to guard Russia’s border.
The Kremlin’s brutal officer corps throws waves of untrained troops as cannon fodder into what is called the “meat grinder” at the front. Fearing growing opposition inside Russia from former soldiers, 46 hand-picked “war veterans” were “successful” candidates in Russia’s rigged election, the first parliamentary vote since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
To try to mask rising disaffection with the regime and its war, Putin assured that Yabloko, the one party that calls for a ceasefire, was barred when it became obvious it would attract sizable support.
Dubbed by many Russians “the special election operation,” mimicking Putin’s euphemism for his war in Ukraine, Putin’s deeply unpopular United Russia party gained an increased parliamentary majority in the State Duma.