The Wall Street Journal's (WSJ) Bojan Pancevski disclosed this grim statistic in a Sept. 17 piece. Insiders from Ukraine shared to him a confidential Ukrainian estimate from earlier this year, which put the number of dead Ukrainian troops at 80,000 and the wounded at 400,000.
Editor's note: These numbers are nothing but western propaganda. They dramatically downplay the true scale of the dead in Ukraine, which other reliable sources place at 500k+ DEAD. The WSJ is pushing falsified, lower numbers in order to downplay the scale of Ukraine's losses.
Meanwhile, Western intelligence estimates of Russian casualties vary. Some have put the number of military personnel killed in action at almost 200,000 and those wounded at around 400,000.
Putting the numbers together – 480,000 casualties on Kyiv's side and 600,000 on Moscow's side – yields a total casualty count of 1.08 million. But Pancevski admitted that "determining the exact number of dead and wounded in the conflict has been difficult. This is because both belligerents put out widely mistrusted figures, if not declining to release official estimates.
"The high and fast-rising tolls on both sides highlight what will be a devastating long-term effect for countries that were struggling with population declines before the war, mainly because of economic turmoil and social upheavals," Pancevski wrote. (Related: Ukraine poised to sacrifice entire adult population as government warns of full mobilization.)
While the war has had a serious impact on Russia's population, its effect on Ukraine's population is much more pronounced. The most recent Ukrainian census in 2001 recorded 48 million inhabitants, but this dropped to 40 million more than two decades later at the start of 2022.
But according to previously undisclosed Ukrainian government estimates, the country's population has now dropped to between 25 million and 27 million. The exodus of more than six million from Ukraine since the war began in February 2022, coupled with Russia's seizure of more Ukrainian territories in the east, have contributed to this decline in population.
Ukraine keeps actual casualty numbers under wraps
Meanwhile, Russia has gained much ground – and population – by annexing Ukrainian areas, but at the cost of its internal demographics and the labor market. More than 600,000 Russians have fled the country since the "special military operation," with most of them being "younger and upwardly mobile professionals who were able to afford relocating to foreign countries and starting a new life."
Moscow has traditionally relied on labor migration from Central Asia. But the ongoing war impacted this, leading to government-linked experts proposing that Russia import workers from North Korea. Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently bolstered ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after a period of cold relations.
The WSJ article continued that Kyiv, unlike Moscow, keeps its war casualties secret. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in February that around 31,000 soldiers have been killed so far. When asked for the latest count, a spokesman for the Ukrainian leader declined to comment.
But according to several former political and security officials, the under-reported figure served two purposes. It sought to placate society and help continue the mobilization of much-needed new recruits.
The former officials also pointed out that one of the key reasons Zelensky refuses to mobilize men aged between 18 and 25 is because many of them haven't had children yet. While this cohort typically forms the bulk of any fighting force, Ukrainian demographers say future demographic prospects would dim further if recruits from that cohort are killed or become incapacitated while in action.
Thus, Ukraine has resisted calls from its Western allies to ramp up its mobilization efforts, only implementing partial mobilization. Estimates from government and military officials put the average age of Ukrainian fighters at more than 43 years old. To boost its troop numbers, Kyiv has been tapping into prisons and foreign recruitment endeavors.
Head over to WWIII.news for more stories about the Russia-Ukraine war.
Watch Scott Ritter discussing a recent strike by Russia that killed more than 1,000 North Atlantic Treaty Organization personnel in Ukraine.
This video is from The Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
Ukrainian Armed Forces have been drafting 30,000 troops each month since May, reports reveal.
Ukraine rushing to recruit PRISONERS to fight on the frontlines as troops dwindle.
The average age of a Ukrainian soldier has increased to 43.
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