Russia Just Lost More Troops in Ukraine Than Soviets Did in Afghanistan

(Social media footage snapshot shows destroyed Russian tanks in Ukraine)

In a mind-blowing development, the number of Russian troops killed in Ukraine over 24 days surpassed the total number of soldiers lost to the former Soviet Union in its decade-long war in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Ukraine Invasion Worse for Russia Than Afghan War

The valiant, stubborn, and highly efficient Ukrainian resistance has been even more dismaying, frustrating Putin’s plans for a quick victory.

Thus, on Saturday, the Ukrainian government announced its troops and citizen guerrillas killed more than 14,400 Russian invaders in the first 24 days of the war.

This means current Russian losses surpassed the losses in the much-talked-of war in Afghanistan of the former Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union, which had a population of more than 280 million people in the 1980s,  invaded Afghanistan in 1979 in order to prop up a Soviet-friendly, communist regime against Islamist radicals.

The jihadist mujahedeen fighters were eventually supplied by the United States with anti-aircraft stinger missiles, which the former used to inflict heavy losses on the Soviets.

(Social media footage snapshot shows destroyed Russian tanks in Ukraine)

Ukrainians Obliterating Putin’s Troops and Generals

According to the war figures, in addition to the nearly 14,500 troops, in Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989, the Soviet Union also lost a whopping 333 helicopters.

It lost more than 100 warplanes, courtesy of the US-made Stinger missiles, 147 tanks, 1,314 armored personnel carriers, 433 heavy artillery pieces, and 11,369 trucks.

Those losses were spread over the course of nine years and two months.

The much more harrowing comparison for today’s Russia, however, isn’t between the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the American war in Afghanistan, but between the former and the current Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The latest data of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry is the country’s defenders killed more than 14,400 Russian invaders.

Numbers of those wounded and those captured haven’t been provided, but there were announcements that so many Russians have been caught alive, a POW camp had to be set up for them.

Besides the personnel losses, so far in Ukraine, Putin’s troops have also lost 95 warplanes, 115 attack helicopters, 17 drones, 466 tanks, 1,470 armored personnel carriers, 213 heavy artillery pieces, 914 others vehicles, 114 missile launchers, three boats, and 60 fuel tanks.

Western estimates of the Russian losses in Ukraine are typically more conservative because they oftentimes rely on visual evidence for verification, and that isn’t always available.

The latest estimate of the Pentagon put the Russian losses at 7,000 kills and 21,000 wounded, which is still nearly one-fifth of some 150,000 troops that Putin used for the invasion.

At the same time, on Saturday, just as the Russian losses in 24 days in Ukraine surpassed the Soviet Union’s losses in ten years of war in Afghanistan, Ukraine also announced a fifth Russian general has been killed on the ground.

This would mean a quarter of the 20 Russian generals estimated to be in command of the war in Ukraine have been taken out.

The latest Russian general casualty in Ukraine is said to be Lt. Gen. Andrey Mordvichev, commander of the 8th All-Military Unit of Russia’s Southern Military District.

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