Alcohol consumption among leading causes of Russia’s non-combat casualties - British intelligence

The British Ministry of Defense reported this on Twitter with reference to intelligence data, according to Ukrinform.

“While Russia has suffered up to 200,000 casualties since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a significant minority of these have been due to non-combat causes,” the report says.

It is noted that on March 27, 2023, a Russian Telegram news channel reported there have been “extremely high” numbers of incidents, crimes, and deaths linked to alcohol consumption amongst the deployed Russian forces.

“Other leading causes of non-combat casualties likely include poor weapon handing drills, road traffic accidents and climatic injuries such as hypothermia. Russian commanders likely identify pervasive alcohol abuse as particularly detrimental to combat effectiveness,” the report says.

The UK Ministry of Defense noted that with heavy drinking pervasive across much of Russian society, “it has long been seen as a tacitly accepted part of military life, even on combat operations.”

As Ukrinform reported, from February 24, 2022 to April 2, 2023, the Defense Forces of Ukraine eliminated about 174,550 Russian soldiers, including 560 invaders in the past day alone.