Trump speaks to Putin amid 'impasse' on ending war in Ukraine
President Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Russia's death toll nears a million in its deadliest war since WWII and there's no end in sight yet
Russia is on track to surpass one million troop casualties in its full-scale war on Ukraine by the summer of 2025. That's according to a new study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a leading think tank in Washington, DC. The report puts the number of Russian killed and wounded at around 950,000 to date, with an estimated 250,000 confirmed dead. If the current pace of fighting continues, the one million mark could be reached in a matter of weeks. 'No Soviet or Russian war since World War II has even come close to Ukraine in terms of fatality rate,' the CSIS report stated. Analysts called the casualty toll 'a stunning and grisly milestone' and a clear sign of 'Putin's blatant disregard for his soldiers.' Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:00 Loaded : 0% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track default , selected Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Russian deaths mount, but gains do not The scale of losses far outweighs Russia's territorial gains. Since the February 2022 invasion, Russia has captured only 12% of Ukrainian territory. Of the 19% it now holds, 7% was already under Russian or proxy control before the war began, including Crimea and parts of Donbas. The CSIS says Russia's advances since January 2024 amount to a mere 1% of Ukrainian territory. In some areas, the pace has slowed to 50 metres per day — slower than the infamous Somme offensive in World War I. Live Events 'Russia has largely failed to achieve its primary objectives and has suffered high costs,' the report said. Moscow's 'meat grinder' tactics The war has devolved into trench-based attrition. Kyiv has fortified its lines with defences and mines, while Moscow has resorted to what analysts describe as 'meat grinder' assaults — sending waves of troops into heavily defended positions for minor gains. British and U.S. intelligence agencies have estimated that Russia is losing around 1,000 soldiers a day, either killed or wounded. These figures align with the CSIS report. To maintain manpower, the Kremlin has pulled prisoners from jails and recruited heavily in poorer, remote regions of Russia, often offering lucrative pay to lure soldiers. 'Putin likely considers these types of soldiers more expendable and less likely to undermine his domestic support base,' the CSIS noted. Ukrainian casualties also high Ukraine has paid a steep price too. The CSIS estimates Kyiv has suffered nearly 400,000 casualties, with between 60,000 and 100,000 of those killed. Given Ukraine's population is a quarter the size of Russia's, the losses have had a deep impact. Despite this, Ukraine's military has been more effective in conserving its resources. The report says Ukraine has kept its equipment losses to a fraction of Russia's, and has slowed the Russian offensive to a near-halt. Russia-Ukraine War: Cost in machines and men The material losses for Russia are staggering. Since January 2024 alone, it has lost: 1,900 tanks 3,100 infantry fighting vehicles 1,150 armoured fighting vehicles 300 self-propelled artillery systems 'Russia has lost substantial quantities of equipment across the land, air, and sea domains, highlighting the sharp matériel toll of its attrition campaign,' the report stated. Ukraine, meanwhile, has struck deep into Russian-held territory. In its recent 'Spider Web' drone operation, Ukraine claimed to have damaged or destroyed 41 aircraft and inflicted up to $7 billion in damage across five Russian airbases. The strikes reached as far as 4,000 miles into Russian territory. Political cost and strategic deadlock Despite heavy losses, Russia continues to enjoy the battlefield initiative. Yet, progress is slow and strategic gains have plateaued. 'Few opportunities for decisive breakthroughs' remain, the report said. Putin has avoided recruiting from Russia's wealthy urban centres. Instead, he has leaned on rural regions and allied forces. Over 10,000 North Korean troops have joined Russian ranks, and convicts have been released in exchange for military service. Meanwhile, Moscow's dependence on China has deepened. Cut off from Western markets, Russia now leans heavily on Beijing for military supplies, consumer goods, and energy exports — shifting the balance of the partnership. Analysts say Russia has lost strategic autonomy and become a 'subservient partner' to China. The CSIS warns that the war's 'blood cost' is Putin's key vulnerability. Without a course correction, Russia could find its military capability deteriorating rapidly. 'For Putin, the war is such a disaster, and the Russian military has reached a point where from sometime this summer, its capability is all downhill: less armour, less ammunition, less resources, less motivation,' Richard Dearlove, former head of Britain's MI6, told NBC News in April. 'But Putin doesn't have a reverse gear on his policy.' The outlook depends not only on Russian endurance, but also on the West. If U.S. support wavers — as it briefly did under President Donald Trump earlier this year — the balance could tip. The CSIS report argues that Russia's best hope is not on the battlefield, but in the possibility that Washington might 'walk away from the conflict.' So far, diplomacy has failed to gain traction. Talks in Istanbul, mediated by the U.S., have stalled. Russia demands full Ukrainian surrender. Kyiv says any deal requiring capitulation is unacceptable. For now, the war grinds on — slowly, painfully, and at immense cost.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Russian strike kills 5 in Ukraine, including a 1 year old, hours after Trump-Putin call
KYIV, Ukraine — At least five people, including a 1-year-old child, his mother and grandmother, were killed Thursday in a nighttime Russian drone strike that hit the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky, officials said. Six drones hit a residential area in the city at 5:30 a.m. local time, according to authorities. The child killed was the grandson of an emergency responder, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. 'One of the rescuers arrived to respond to the aftermath right at his own home,' Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram. 'It turned out that a Shahed drone hit his house.' The attack came just hours after Donald Trump spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Trump, Putin said 'very strongly' that Russia will retaliate for Ukraine's weekend stunning drone attacks on Russian military airfields. Six people were wounded in the Pryluky attack and are in hospital, officials said. Pryluky, which had a prewar population of around 50,000 people, lies about 100 kilometers east of Kyiv, the capital. The city is far from the front line and does not contain any known military assets. Zelenskyy said a total of 103 drones and one ballistic missile targeted multiple Ukrainian regions overnight, including Donetsk, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, Chernihiv, Dnipro and Kherson. 'This is another massive strike,' Zelenskyy said. 'It is yet another reason to impose the strongest possible sanctions and apply pressure collectively.' Zelenskyy, who has accepted a U.S. ceasefire proposal and offered to meet with Putin in an attempt to break the stalemate in negotiations, wants more international sanctions on Russia to force it to accept a settlement. Putin has shown no willingness to meet with Zelenskyy, however, and has indicated no readiness to compromise. U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to stop the more than 3-year-long war have delivered no significant progress, and the grinding war of attrition has continued unabated. Germany's new leader Friedrich Merz was due to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday as he works to keep the U.S. on board with Western diplomatic and military support for Ukraine. Ukraine's top presidential aide, Andriy Yermak, met with senior American officials in Washington on Wednesday and called for greater U.S. pressure on Russia, accusing the Kremlin of deliberately stalling ceasefire talks and blocking progress toward peace, according to a statement on the presidential website. Yermak, who traveled to the U.S. as part of a Ukrainian delegation, met with senior American officials to bolster support for Ukraine's defense and humanitarian priorities. He said Ukraine urgently needs stronger air defense capabilities. Hours later, seventeen people were injured in a Russian drone strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Those hurt included children, a pregnant woman, and a 93-year-old woman, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. At around 1:05 a.m., Shahed-type drones struck two apartment buildings in the city's Slobidskyi district, causing fires and destroying several private vehicles. Russian aircraft also dropped four powerful glide bombs on the southern city of Kherson, injuring at least three people, regional authorities said. Follow 's coverage of the war in Ukraine at /hub/russia-ukraine
India.com
4 hours ago
- India.com
Meet R-37M missile, which India is planning to buy, can destroy Pakistan's AWACS, F-16s before they..., tension for China due to...
New Delhi: After Operation Sindoor, where India destroyed 9 terror bases in Pakistan and PoK killing hundreds of dreaded terrorists, the arms race across the globe has escalated. According to the reports, India is likely to acquire a deadly weapon that could rewrite South Asia's air warfare equation. The name of the weapon is the Russian R-37M missile, a long-range air-to-air beast so fast and deadly that even the United States and China are known to shudder at its capabilities. Reports further added that the Putin administration has offered India to supply the R-37M and license its production on Indian soil. If the deal goes through, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will gain a powerful edge over adversaries such as China and Pakistan in high-stakes aerial confrontations. It is important to note that the R-37M is far more powerful than Pakistan's F-16s and AWACS. The missile is made to destroy enemy aircraft from beyond visual range (BVR), it can take down Pakistan's prized F-16s and AWACS surveillance aircraft before they even detect an Indian fighter jet. 'It's not a missile but an airborne predator. It allows India to destroy enemy aircraft without ever entering their strike zone. That flips the entire doctrine of air combat,' said a senior defense analyst. Here are some of the key features of the missile: The R-37M has speeds of up to Mach 6 six times the speed of sound The R-37M can strike targets more than 300 kilometers away. Its mid-flight target switch capability and active radar guidance system make it almost impossible to dodge, even for highly maneuverable jets. Currently, the IAF deploys R-77 missiles on its Su-30MKI jets. Reports suggest that the R-37M could replace the R-77 entirely, offering a dramatic leap in range, speed and precision. The R-37M's induction into India's arsenal would render Pakistan's air surveillance systems deeply vulnerable. R-37M has a speed – Up to Mach 6 (7,400 km/h); range – estimated 300-400 km; weight – 510 kg, length – over four metres; warhead – 60 kg high-explosive; designation – NATO calls it the AA-13 Axehead; and targets – fighter jets, AWACS, drones and tanker aircraft. Unlike previous systems, the R-37M doesn't require visual confirmation to engage. It can lock onto targets well beyond the range of enemy radars or weapons, delivering strikes from safe, stand-off distances. For Indian pilots, this means they can hit first, from afar, without ever being seen.
