Russia conceals true scale of disability among military personnel – intelligence

The Russian authorities are attempting to hide the real scale of disability among their military personnel resulting from combat operations.

This was reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, according to Ukrinform.

According to intelligence data, during hostilities from 2022 to 2024, at least 370,000 Russians sustained injuries that led to disability.

“This is one of the most significant social consequences of the war against Ukraine, which Russia’s authorities are trying to conceal by restricting official statistics and closing access to primary data,” the agency noted.

An indirect indicator of the scale of the problem, intelligence points out, is the sharp increase in budget expenditures for prosthetics. Russia’s federal budget demonstrates an unprecedented rate of growth in these allocations: 37.2 billion rubles in 2022, 42.2 billion in 2023, and 55.8 billion in 2024. For this year, 75.4 billion rubles have been allocated, and for the next, 98.16 billion. Such acceleration is typical of situations in which the state responds to a massive influx of new patients with severe injuries, including amputations and combat-related wounds.

For the leadership of the aggressor state, the situation is becoming politically sensitive. Growing expenditures on medical support for individuals who acquired disabilities as a result of combat operations, the escalating pressure on social funds, and the absence of reliable information create a risk of internal tension.

“It is precisely the likelihood of social unrest that explains the Kremlin’s reluctance to disclose the real scale of the war’s consequences for russian society,” the Foreign Intelligence Service concluded.

As reported by Ukrinform, it is becoming increasingly complex for the Russian authorities to maintain a stable flow of contract servicemen into the army for participation in the war against Ukraine.

Ukrinform’s photos are available for purchase here.