Western intelligence estimates over 600,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Ukraine

BUSINESS INSIDER: Russia has seen an estimated 610,000 soldiers killed and wounded in Ukraine since the start of its war, Britain's defense ministry shared in a Thursday intelligence update.

The staggering casualty figure, the latest Western estimate of Moscow's substantial losses in Ukraine, underscores Russia's ability to absorb massive losses as the grinding conflict shows no signs of slowing down.

Last month alone, Russia suffered a daily average of 1,187 killed and wounded, Britain's defense ministry said in its update, citing Ukrainian military reporting, which Business Insider was unable to independently verify. This figure is slightly higher than Moscow's average daily losses of 1,140 troops in July.

The UK said that the increase in the Russian casualty rate is "almost certainly" due to Ukraine's ongoing invasion of Russia, now around a month old, and Russia's continued advances toward the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk.

Ukraine has said one of the objectives of its invasion of Russia's Kursk region was to redirect Moscow's forces away from the Pokrovsk direction. However, Kyiv has acknowledged that this attempt to ease pressure off this critical sector of the front line hasn't happened.

"Russia continues to rely on mass to mitigate their lack of personnel and equipment capability," the UK defense ministry said in its update. "Although Russian pressure on the whole front line will continue over the next month, their capability constraints will likely continue to reduce their ability to exploit any tactical successes into wider operational gains."

The defense ministry added that Russia will likely continue to average over 1,000 daily casualties throughout the rest of September as its forces fight along the sprawling front line. Moscow has seen consistently heavy losses since the start of the summer.

Beyond personnel, Russia has lost an immense amount of military equipment since the war started. This includes nearly 10,000 armored vehicles, hundreds of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, and dozens of naval vessels, according to open-source intelligence site Oryx, which tracks war losses on both sides.

War analysts have said that despite these losses and a high rate of equipment attrition, Russia can still sustain its war in Ukraine for years to come.

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