"Sir Richard Moore the former UK's MI6 spy chief has told Sky News that he finds the tens of thousands of Russian troops killed in Ukraine just in December 2025, "astonishing." Vladimir Putin has lost more troops in Ukraine during fighting in December 2025 than Moscow lost during the ten-year Soviet-Afghan war. The Soviet-Afghan war started in 1979 until 1989 and around 20,000 Soviet soldiers were killed. The Russia President Mikhail Gorbachev called the war a "bleeding wound" and was viewed as a "humiliating mistake." Putin has made the same mistake as Gorbachev made in 1979, as he believed the Afghan war would be a "quick operation," as Moscow wanted to takeover Afghanistan."
"The former MI6 spy chief told Sky News's on the World podcast, "The losses are terrible, and even the Russians will struggle to replace that level of losses. So, they continue to do appallingly badly on the battlefield." Moore said that despite the "astonishing" battlefield losses, Putin "is more comfortable than he should be." Moore added, "We should be adding more pressure. We should be helping the Ukrainians more extensively than we are. "We should be giving them more permissions than we are at the moment." Last month the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has revealed to delegates at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland how many Russia ns were killed in December."
Tens of thousands of Russian troops were killed in Ukraine during December 2025. December losses exceeded Moscow’s fatalities over the ten-year Soviet-Afghan war, which ran from 1979 to 1989 and cost around 20,000 Soviet soldiers. Total Russian casualties since the operation began are reported to include more than 1.2 million soldiers killed or severely wounded in less than four years. Battlefield performance is characterized as poor and losses have been described as 'terrible' and 'astonishing.' Analysts assess that Russia will struggle to replace such losses. Calls have been made for increased military support, more permissive assistance, and greater pressure on Russia. NATO estimates suggested roughly 1,000 Russian fatalities per day in December.
Read at London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com
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