The BBC has analysed data that indicates that more than 70,000 Russian soldiers/volunteers have died fighting in Ukraine since the war began.
Obituaries, photos from funerals,[ which are published across Russia in the media and on social networks], new graves in cemeteries, official reports and other sources have evidenced these deaths.
Roughly 20% of the Russians who have died have been volunteers with 250 being over the age of 60. Soldiers have told the BBC that many volunteers are sent to the most dangerous areas of the frontline with very little or no training and poor equipment. First Aid and subsequent medical care for those injured also seems to be poor.
This ‘meat grinder’ strategy means that Moscow sends waves of soldiers forward relentlessly to try and wear down Ukrainian forces. Drone footage has shown Russian Forces attacking Ukrainian positions with little or no equipment or support from artillery or military vehicles.
In reality these Russian soldiers and volunteers are expendable or ‘canon fodder’. Putin only has one aim – and that is the ‘conquest’ of Ukraine. How many Russian and Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have to die in pursuit of that aim is of no interest to a sociopath like Putin.