UK intelligence confirms scale of Russia’s losses in war for first time
Photo: Russian soldier (Getty Images)
The head of the UK intelligence service GCHQ, Anne Keast-Butler, said that Russia has lost nearly 500,000 troops in the war against Ukraine, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin is retreating on the battlefield, according to The Guardian.
She made this assessment during the first annual lecture of the GCHQ.
This is the first time a senior UK official has publicly disclosed an estimate of Russian losses in the fifth year of the full-scale war.
According to her, the Kremlin is simultaneously intensifying hybrid activity against the United Kingdom and European countries.
"Russia is scaling up its daily hybrid activity against the UK and Europe," said the head of GCHQ.
She clarified that this includes attacks on critical infrastructure, cyberspace, democratic processes, logistics chains, and underwater communications.
"But let me be clear that in the face of such aggression and chaos, GCHQ is working tirelessly with intelligence and defence partners to degrade and reduce the Russian threat," Keast-Butler added.
Anne Keast-Butler also said that British intelligence services are "disrupting Russia’s attempts to smuggle western tech; fending off its cyber-attacks and countering reckless sabotage and assassination attempts."
She separately referred to cases of sabotage in Europe. In particular, incendiary devices were found in DHL parcels transported through Germany and the UK. One ignited in Leipzig, another in a warehouse in Birmingham.
Earlier, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that the Russian army loses 30,000–35,000 soldiers per month on the front line.
According to him, in some areas, the loss ratio between Ukrainian and Russian forces currently reaches 1 to 8 in Ukraine’s favor.
Meanwhile, the Office of the President of Ukraine does not rule out that after the 2026 State Duma elections in Russia, Vladimir Putin may declare general mobilization. Head of the Office Pavlo Palisa said that Ukraine takes such a scenario into account and is preparing to respond to a possible expansion of mobilization measures in Russia.
