'Nearly 300,000 dead': Russia's invasion of Ukraine in numbers Cecile Feuillatre and Joris Fioriti, --- Agence France-Presse
PARIS, France - When Russia's President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, he started a war that has killed tens of thousands of people, ravaged cities, and pummelled the country's economy. A year on, here is the cost of the conflict: Military losses According to the latest estimates from Norway, the conflict has wounded or killed 180,000 Russian soldiers and 100,000 Ukrainian troops. Other Western sources estimate the war has caused 150,000 casualties on each side. In comparison, some 15,000 Soviet soldiers were killed in a whole decade of fighting in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. Ukrainian soldiers often use the term "cannon fodder" to describe the Russians sent to their death along the frontline. They are often poorly trained conscripts who stand little chance against Ukrainian forces determined to defend their country. Others are convicts recruited in Russian jails to swell the ranks of Russian paramilitary group Wagner, ...