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As Russia’s Military Losses Pass 1 Million, Putin Says All Were “For a Cause”
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
Russian leader Vladimir Putin declared that all Russian military casualties in Ukraine were “for a cause,” insisting that fallen soldiers laid the groundwork for what he described as Russia’s ongoing advances across the front, Putin said during an informal meeting with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Valaam Island, according to a Russian Smotri media outlet on August 1.
“These are the people who created the conditions for those now in the ranks to move forward… In this sense, we do not have a single loss that was in vain,” Putin said.
Putin’s remarks come as open-source data estimates that more than 120,000 Russian troops have been killed since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, highlighting the growing death toll in Russia's war against Ukraine.
Western intelligence agencies estimate Russia’s total military losses—including wounded, captured, or missing—at around 1 million personnel.
Despite those losses, Putin insisted that Russian forces are currently “advancing along the entire line of contact—both in the border areas and in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. Everywhere. In some areas more, in others less,” he said.
When Lukashenko praised the Russian military’s momentum, saying they would “bite off, capture, and move forward,” Putin corrected him: “No—return. This is ours.” He also claimed everything was proceeding “according to plan.”
To bolster his claims of progress, Putin pointed to the Russian Defense Ministry’s announcement that the town of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region had supposedly fallen to Russian forces.
“Chasiv Yar is a fairly large settlement,” Putin said, referring to a city that once had a population of 12,000 but has been reduced to ruins by months of relentless shelling.
Putin also accused Ukraine’s top military-political leadership of being “poorly informed about the frontline situation” because, in his words, they continue to “reject Russian truths.”
However, Ukrainian authorities and the Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) dismissed Putin’s statements as disinformation.
“Putin lied about the occupation of Chasiv Yar. The Russians do not control the town,” said Andrii Kovalenko, head of the CCD under Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.
The Ukrainian military has made no official confirmation of the loss of Chasiv Yar, a strategically critical high-ground position west of Bakhmut.
Ukrainian defense analysts view Putin’s claim as part of a broader effort to mask Russian battlefield setbacks with propaganda, especially as Moscow seeks to maintain morale amid deepening domestic and international pressure.
Earlier, reports emerged that Ukrainian Armed Forces eliminated 33,220 Russian military personnel over the course of July, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi announced.
