Ben Hodges explains why Russia does not care about human losses in the war

The military and political leadership of the Russian Federation is killing a huge number of Russian invaders in suicide attacks in Ukraine. In particular, many Russian invaders were eliminated by the Ukrainian Defense Forces during the Russian offensive that began in the fall. However, Moscow does not take these losses into account.

The reason for this disregard for human losses is the Kremlin's desire to convince Ukrainians and Ukraine's Western partners that Russia's resources are allegedly unlimited: it hopes to discourage resistance in the former and to convince the latter to refuse to help the Ukrainian state. This opinion was expressed by Ben Hodges, former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, during a TV marathon.

Reflecting on why Russia is "utilizing" thousands of its soldiers in Ukraine and not changing its tactics despite the lack of serious results on the battlefield, Hodges noted that the Kremlin has its own reasons. Ignoring its own losses, Russia is trying to convince Ukraine and the West that its resources are unlimited.

"I think what we're seeing is an attempt by the Kremlin to give the West the impression that Russia has unlimited resources, that they will keep coming up," Hodges said.

The Russian authorities are recruiting new cannon fodder mainly from those whom they "do not feel sorry for," in particular, representatives of small peoples of the Russian Federation living in regions remote from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

"They (the Russian leadership - ed.) are ready to lose hundreds of soldiers every day, as long as it looks like they have an unlimited number of reserves," the American general said.

At the same time, Russia needs to create the illusion of its power not because of vanity but for purely practical reasons. This is how the Kremlin hopes to undermine the will of the Ukrainian people to fight.

The Russian leadership also hopes that such a demonstration of "power" could force the West to abandon its assistance to Ukraine as a futile exercise. The Kremlin hopes for this, because, as Hodges said, they realize there that Russia "does not have the ability to deliver a decisive knockout blow to Ukraine."

As a reminder, as of the morning of January 1, 2024, Russia's irrecoverable losses in manpower in the war against Ukraine exceeded 360 000 troops.

On the last day of 2023 alone, Ukrainian soldiers eliminated 780 occupiers. They also destroyed 156 pieces of weapons and equipment.

For example, in December, Russia lost 29,970 occupants and 3,640 pieces of weapons and equipment.

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