Those who initiate wars often begin with an overly optimistic assumption that the fighting will be quick, controllable and that casualties will be low. When many bodies start coming home or are left on the battlefield, it is a sign that the war is none of those things.
The Kremlin’s first statement on Russian military casualties in their invasion of Ukraine, on March 2, 2022, noted that 498 soldiers had been killed and 1,597 wounded. And for weeks Russian media continued to suggest, without giving actual figures, that very low numbers of their soldiers have been killed and wounded in Ukraine.
