Russia is losing more troops than it can recruit for the first time since it invaded Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin’s forces were suffering almost 40,000 casualties a month since November, while recruiting up to 35,000 troops to sustain the invasion, Western officials said.
Ukraine’s intense counter-attacks have pushed Russia’s death toll to more than 1.25 million – more than the total sustained by the United States during the Second World War.
Al Carns, the UK’s Armed Forces minister, said Russia’s effort to train fresh recruits was “becoming more and more difficult” with financial incentives by the Kremlin failing to entice new soldiers to join the front lines. “People are realising that it’s a one-way ticket,” he said.
Efforts to end the war have recently stalled despite US pressure to secure a deal.
Speaking ahead of today’s fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin was seeking to launch World War Three, telling the BBC: “I believe he has already started it.”
The Telegraph revealed on Monday how Russia had bought properties near military sites across Europe as part of plans for a co-ordinated sabotage campaign, intelligence officials warned.
Suspicious property acquisitions near the MI6 headquarters in south London and the nearby US embassy, and RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, have raised fears of Russia stepping up its “hybrid war” through the new network.
Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, said Britain would continue to support Ukraine, insisting: “Russia is not winning this war.”
Russia has tried to persuade volunteers from poorer regions to join the war by promising $50,000 (£40,000) bonuses, but analysts question how long the economy can maintain the incentives.
The vast majority of Moscow’s losses – about 87 per cent – came from drone strikes, which now dominate the battlefield, with one drone as effective as 22 rounds of heavy artillery, Mr Carns said.
Russia’s losses have been exacerbated this month after Elon Musk banned the use of his Starlink satellite-based internet service.
“The Russians’ intensity dropped when they were disconnected from Starlink,” a Ukrainian soldier told The Telegraph. “In two days, we regained Sosnivka [in Dnipropetrovsk] and are on the way to Huliapole [in Zaporizhzhia].”
Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, warned artificial intelligence and drones had revolutionised the battlefield, leaving troops on both sides exposed.
“This has led to the creation of a robotic kill zone, which today extends at least 25 kilometres deep,” he said.
John Healey, the Defence Secretary, added the UK was “more determined than ever to stand strong with Ukrainians”
