Today, there are important updates from the Russian Federation.
Here, the Russian high command casually continues to set forth their war of attrition strategy inside Ukraine, assuming that naturally they will be able to outlast Ukraine through the sheer number of men at their disposal.
However, reality has now hit them hard, as new research statistics reveal that Russia has already lost over 1% of all men in the country, the demographic collapse is only worsening in its downward spiral, and the young men supposed to save the future of Russia are found lifelessly in the sunflower fields of Ukraine.
Russian losses reach unprecedented levels
Recent figures underscore the scale of the catastrophe, as on December 17th alone, Russian forces lost 1,730 soldiers in one day. For November 2025, the Ukrainian General Staff estimates monthly Russian losses at 31,000 personnel, marking the third consecutive month of rising casualties. In total, Russia has now suffered approximately 1,192,000 irreversible personnel losses since the start of the war. These numbers overwhelmingly represent killed in action, with a smaller share of severely wounded soldiers who will never return to service.
Day after day, casualty updates add between 1,000 and 1,700 men, reflecting an army being consumed at a pace unseen in modern warfare. The scale already exceeds the total combat losses of the United States during World War 2, yet after nearly four years of fighting, Russia has failed to fully capture even a single major Ukrainian city.
Pokrovsk, a town of only 60,000 inhabitants before the war and battered for over a year and a half, remains at least partially under Ukrainian control, showcasing the historically disastrous cost-to-gain ratio.
A nation that entered the war already in decline
What makes these losses even more destructive is far larger than military regard alone, when noting that Russia entered the war already in deep demographic decline. By 2022, the country was grappling with an aging population, chronically low birth rates, and a shrinking workforce. The median age had climbed to around 40, with more than one-fifth of the Russian population aged 65 or older. High mortality among working-age men, driven by alcoholism and poor healthcare, had already hollowed out the labor pool.
Fertility rates had remained below replacement level since the 1990s, hovering around 1.5 children per couple, despite years of state incentives. This meant fewer young people entering adulthood, fewer workers supporting more retirees, and circling back, fewer men available for mobilization.
Even before the invasion, Russia’s demographic trajectory pointed toward long-term population decline, with UN projections suggesting a fall from 146 million in 2022 toward roughly 130 million by mid-century. Putin's war did not interrupt this trend, but instead accelerated it violently.
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Young and middle-aged Russian men wiped out
The damage inflicted by the hostilities is not reversible, because a significant share of the losses comes from young and middle-aged men. Estimates indicate that Russian military deaths alone amount to roughly 0.5% to 1.2% of the country’s pre-war male population under 60. These are men in their prime reproductive, physical, and working years, the age group that Russia needs large and healthy to stay relevant. Their deaths permanently reduce future birth numbers, deepen labor shortages, and shrink the pool of potential soldiers for any future mobilization.
Many of the younger recruits were born and raised entirely under Putin’s rule, shaped by years of nationalist education. Ironically, the very generation the regime cultivated as its ideological backbone is being wiped out on Ukrainian battlefields. At the other end of the spectrum, a half of volunteers killed are over 50 years old, with a lower average life expectancy, these are often men with little left economically, lured by signing bonuses and death payments that might pull their families out of poverty. Together, desperate men and indoctrinated youth now form the backbone of Russia’s army, with both being erased at scale.
Collapse spreads beyond the battlefield
The demographic consequences extend far beyond the battlefield, as the population's decline accelerates, Russia will increasingly rely on mass immigration to sustain its economy. Projections suggest the migrant population could rise from under 8 million to nearly 20 million, surpassing the size of Russia’s largest indigenous ethnic groups. Notably, even the Russian military has begun running recruitment ads centered around diversity being their biggest strength, a prominent informational tool they often try to use against the West.
No fix for the damage done
Overall, Russia is not merely losing soldiers at an unprecedented rate, but is destroying the biological, economic, and social foundations of its future. The deaths of hundreds of thousands of young men cannot be offset by policy, online campaigns, or migration alone. Russia's history after World War II shows that societies pay heavily for such losses for generations.
In pursuing its war in Ukraine, the Kremlin is not only burning through its army, but erasing the future of the nation itself.
In our regular frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
