Putin's numbers don't add up: Ukraine war data inconsistencies
Independent Russian channel Astra identified a blunder made by dictator Vladimir Putin during the Valdai Club, where he claimed that Ukrainian armed forces "lost 30,000 people" in the Kursk region—more than in all of 2023. The issue here is that a year prior, Putin had stated something entirely different.
11:33 AM EST, November 9, 2024
The losses incurred in the war are closely guarded by both the Kremlin and Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelensky has disclosed Ukraine's losses only once. In February 2024, he reported that 31,000 Ukrainian military personnel had died, but he refused to disclose the number of wounded.
On Friday, while speaking at the Valdai Club, Putin asserted that the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost more people in the Kursk region this year—30,000—than in all of 2023. Independent channel Astra points out that a year earlier, the dictator claimed Ukraine had lost 90,000 people.
"Within three months of combat operations, the losses of the Kyiv regime are greater than in the entire last year—over 30,000. They lost fewer tanks—now about 200, compared to probably 240 last year," Putin said.
Putin manipulates numbers
Astra highlights that on October 5, 2023, at the same Valdai forum, Putin announced that Ukrainian losses since the beginning of the counteroffensive, which started in the summer, were 90,000 people and 557 tanks.
These inconsistencies may suggest data manipulation for propaganda purposes. The differences in reported numbers might stem from a desire to present the situation favorably for the Russian narrative. Astra also points out discrepancies that might indicate Kremlin manipulations.
Kyiv: Russia lost 20,000 soldiers in Kursk
On November 6, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, stated that during Ukrainian military operations in the Kursk region in Russia, Russian forces lost over 20,000 soldiers.
More than 7,900 soldiers were killed, over 12,200 were wounded, and 717 were captured, he mentioned. During this period, 1,101 units of enemy weapons and military equipment were destroyed, including 54 tanks, 276 armored fighting vehicles, 107 guns and mortars, five rocket artillery systems, and 659 vehicles.
