Zelensky: Putin Will Need Two More Years And 800 Thousand Corpses Of Russian Soldiers To Capture Donbass
3- 5.02.2026, 8:15
- 2,330
The occupiers won't last that long.
Vladimir Putin will need at least two years to seize all of Donbass, and the price of this offensive will be about 800,000 dead Russian servicemen.
This was stated by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in an interview with France Télévisions.
"Russia wants us to leave Donbass. Why? Because when they started this war, they didn't get a single victory. We are well aware of the price the Russian army pays for every meter of Ukrainian land. They do not count those who die. The conquest of eastern Ukraine will cost them another 800,000 corpses, the corpses of their soldiers. It will take them at least two years, with their very slow advance. In my opinion, they will not last that long," the head of state said.
Talking about possible concessions for the sake of ending the war, Zelensky said that even freezing the conflict along the current front line is already a serious concession on Kiev's part. He noted that any settlement options presuppose counter steps. In particular, if a special economic zone is created, both sides will have to retreat, while the idea of a demilitarized zone is possible only if each side controls its part and an international separation force is placed between them, the Ukrainian president explained.
Zelensky also accused Russian troops of trying to use the cold weather as an instrument of pressure on Ukrainian society. He said the strikes on infrastructure and civilians were aimed at inducing Ukraine to a so-called "compromise." "The Russians do not realize that the more they attack civilians, the more they kill, the more they violate the rules of war, the further they distance the prospect of a compromise between Ukraine and Russia," he said.
Data about the slow advance and high losses of the Russian army are confirmed by independent analyses. The Center for Strategy and International Studies (CSIS) reported in January that the pace of Russia's offensive in Ukraine was the slowest in more than 100 years of modern warfare history. In two years - in 2024 and 2025 - the Russian army was able to establish control over only 8.4 thousand square kilometers, which is 1.4% of Ukraine's territory. At the same time, in a number of key areas, the offensive was even slower than during World War I with its protracted position battles without frontal movement.
Minimal territorial successes were achieved at the cost of losses that no army has suffered since World War II. From February 2022 to December 2025, the center estimates total Russian troop losses at about 1.2 million. This is 17 times the Soviet Union's losses in Afghanistan, 11 times the losses in both Chechen wars, and five times the combined Soviet and Russian losses in all armed conflicts after 1945.
The Economist magazine concluded in a December analysis that Russia's cumulative losses during the war in Ukraine are equivalent to about 1 percent of the country's prewar male population. In turn, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in January that Russia was losing 20,000 to 25,000 people killed every month in the war against Ukraine.
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