Kremlin Troops Dream of a ‘Million-Dollar Wound’ as Their Only Chance of Survival

More and more Russian fighters see being wounded in the war in Ukraine as the only way of ensuring they will be able to return home safely, as they have no other chance of getting back to Russia, according to Ukraine’s National Resistance Center (CNR).

“In this way, there is a chance to return to the places of permanent deployment, and then, if they are lucky, to escape. There are no other options to get a ‘vacation’ and see your family,” the CNR press service said.

It reports that even if Russian commanders receive details of leave allocation, these papers immediately end up in the trash. Russian troops have largely given up any hope of getting a break because of the critical manpower shortages on the front line.

Russia suffers huge losses

With apparently no way out and battlefield losses among Moscow’s forces mounting to levels some would categorize as countless, Russian soldiers are increasingly becoming convinced that this is also the only way to survive.

During World War II the type of wound suffered in combat which was serious enough to get sent home, but neither fatal nor permanently crippling was known among US troops as a “Million-dollar wound.”

A spokesperson for the CNR reported that a Russian soldier serving in the occupied territories of Ukraine told them about the huge losses.

He told Kyiv Post: “He [the soldier]said that near every location of their troops, they have to set up burial grounds where they dump the bodies of their dead.”

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Russian Strike Kills Six, Wounds Nine in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia: Governor

The industrial city, which had an estimated pre-war population of more than 700,000 people, lies around 35 kilometres from the nearest Russian positions.

According to him, there are at least a thousand bodies in the single burial ground he helped prepare.

Russian army lost fewer soldiers in March than in February

According to the UK’s April 7 Defence intelligence update, Russian forces lost fewer soldiers on the battlefield in March in comparison with February.

The average daily number of Moscow’s troops killed and wounded in Ukraine in March 2024 fell by 74 people per day to an average of 913 suffered during the first quarter of the year.

The agency attributes this to a combination of a decrease in offensive action by Russian forces, partly during a period of reorganization and re-equipment after the capture of Avdiivka and a need to reduce the reports of military deaths during the Russian elections.

The level of casualties is put down to Russia’s persistent tactics of trying to force breakthroughs by means of mass attacks against Ukraine’s frontline defensive positions.