Russian Losses

Russia's population in 2024 was estimated to have lain between 143.6 and 146.15 millions. 

During World War Two, the former Soviet Union is estimated to have lost about 27 million people (8.7 million military and 19 million civilians). 

The Russian population arguably never fully recovered from these losses.

Western intelligence in 2024 placed the number of Russian wounded in Ukraine at 400,000 - 700,000. 

The number of Russian dead soldiers in Ukraine by November 24, 2024 was reported to have reached a staggering 730,740. 

Russia's military is estimated to have had about 1.5 million enlisted men (active military personnel) in total. 

If we assume that the following numbers are correct - more than 730,000 dead and up to 700,000 wounded by - the logical conclusion seems to be for Russia to be running out of (actively enlisted) soldiers. 

It thus did not really come as a surprise when Moscow began to enlist troops from North Korea. In exchange, North Korea seems to have been receiving crude oil from Russia. Crude oil in exchange for military manpower? Is this what victory looks like?  

During the Cold War, the former Soviet Union had between 500,000 and 600,000 Soviet troops stationed in occupied Eastern Germany alone; plus 175,000 Soviet troops in Poland, the former Czechoslovakia and in Hungary. 

How would, could, should today's Russia attempt to project man-power within parts of Eastern / Central Europe during or after the Ukraine war with up to 50 % of its active personnel potentially dead and the other half wounded (assuming the above numbers are correct)?

One alternative remaining might be the threat to resort to the use of nuclear weapons as a means of ‘deterrence’ .

700,000 plus Russian men not returning home?

The Russian Defense Ministry has not released official figures for its total military losses in Ukraine since September 2022.

What would Moscow’s willingness to have sacrificed more than 700,000 men within two and a half years tell the world about the value of human life in today's Russia? Is this what the construction or emergence of a so-called 'multi-polar' world supposedly looks like? 

The opportunity for Russia to present itself as a benevolent hegemon in the post-Cold War era and 21st century seems to being wasted in Ukraine.