Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on October 7, during a meeting with military commanders in Saint Petersburg, that the decision to start the war against Ukraine was a "correct and timely" decision.
Putin stated that Russia had captured 4,900 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory in 2025, which constitutes approximately 0.8 percent of Ukraine's territory. The Russian President once again emphasized the necessity of achieving all the objectives set in the "special military operation".
I would like to remind that the main task set in the "special military operation" refers to the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.
While talking about the necessity of Ukraine’s demilitarization and denazification, Russia is successfully carrying out its own demilitarization. The Russian President fabricates figures and presents the capture of 4,900 square kilometers, or 0.8 percent, of Ukrainian territory within eight months of 2025 as an achievement. However, he does not utter a single word about what these "successes" have cost Russia.
According to the calculations of the "I Want to Live" project, within the eight months of 2025, the Russian army lost 86,744 soldiers, including 1,583 officers. Approximately 34,000 went missing, and 158,500 were wounded. During this period, over 2,000 Russian soldiers were taken prisoner. Overall, the Russian army suffered losses exceeding 281,000 in 2025. According to data, in 2025, the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed 13,145 units of Russian military equipment and damaged more than 48,000.
On average, the monthly losses of the Russian army amount to 35,000 personnel and 7,700 units of equipment. The Russian army loses more than 1,000 soldiers every day.
The losses of the Russian army during the eight months of 2025 are 2.5 times greater than the number of soldiers the Soviet army lost during the East Prussia offensive in 1945. At that time, having lost 126,000 soldiers and officers, the Soviet Union occupied Prussia and Königsberg, achieving a strategic victory in the war. Now, Putin speaks of capturing 4,900 square kilometers, or 0.8 percent, of Ukrainian territory as an accomplishment.
The compliant Russian people, accustomed to oppression, remain silent despite the catastrophic scale of losses. Putin, who has been turned into the governor of Russia by China, is successfully carrying out Russia’s demilitarization.
Khagani Jafarli,
political analyst
