In numbers — Western propaganda about Russia's losses

Source: Larry Johnson; https://sonar21.com/by-the-numbers-western-propaganda-on-Russian-losses/

Over the past week, Western media has been feverishly pushing a communicative of massive losses suffered by Russia. Marco Rubio's message in Kuala Lumpur a fewer days ago is simply a typical example of this:

A 100 1000 since January? But it's not just Rubio...

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The Economist gives more modest estimates, but The key word is ‘Respect“ :

As of July 9, our counter indicates that between 900,000 and 1.3 million Russians have been killed since the start of the war, including about 190 000–350 000 recently. This updates estimates from another sources that estimated at the end of June total number of victims per million . Our data suggests that in the summertime offensive, which began for good on May 1, about 31,000 Russians may have died so far.

Too small data to make comparable estimates for Ukraine. However, the catalogue of known dead and missing, available on the UAL oses website, indicates that from the beginning of the invasion, 73,000 to 140,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed.

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So much propaganda.

Let's talk about lazy reporters. There's quite a few data available, just a basic analysis. For example, let's start with social media. In the era of ubiquitous smartphones and social platforms, it is impossible to hide obituaryes or pictures of funerals and cemeteries. There are hundreds of photographs of Ukrainian funerals and cemeteries with virtually a sea of Ukrainian flags floating over the vast area of recently dug graves. It's different in Russia. There are respective but nothing compares to the number shown on Ukrainian channels.

Analysts of Western interviews have access to satellite images and the anticipation of analyzing cemeteries in Russia and Ukraine and comparing where most fresh graves are dug. I curse I wrote an article about it utilizing these photos, but I can't find it. But while searching, I made an interesting discovery... Western satellites and media companies do nothing to make specified a comparison.

The illustration below helps explain this. [Note: The title is wrong.] The illustration shows the number of Russian bodies listed for Ukrainian bodies since the beginning of peculiar Military Operations.

In the erstwhile article, I discussed the origin of disparity in the number of fatalities in the fight... The point is, Russia has a crushing advantage in firepower. Let us look at 2 weapons systems:

Artillery missiles : Russia enjoys a unilateral advantage due to increased home production (3-4.5 million missiles per year) and massive imports (e.g. over 9 million from North Korea since 2023), while Ukraine is totally dependent on Western aid (1.3-2 million per year).

NATO's secretary-general acknowledged publically that Russia produces more artillery missiles within 3 months than the US and the remainder of NATO during the year. Numbers of production are crucial as the Russian firing rate (10 000-15 000 rounds a day) surpasses Ukrainian (2 000-7 000 a day), leading to a 5-10:1 imbalance in any sectors in 2024. In 2025 this disproportion increased to 23:1 against Ukraine. In another words, Ukrainians hit by artillery missiles will have more casualties than Russians simply due to the fact that Russians fire more missiles.

Drones : Russia has respective key advantages in the usage of drones in the fight against the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, mainly due to a larger industrial base, abroad partnerships (e.g. Iran for kind drones) Shahed and with China for components) and focus on mass production and distribution.

Larger production volume and stocks: Russia plans to produce 2-4 million drones by 2025 (including 2 million FPV models and 30,000 long-range drones/bikes), surpassing Ukraine's targets in any categories, despite Ukraine's overall mark of 4.5 million. This includes expanding production to 300-500 long-range drones per day, supported by Chinese components, which gives Russia a 3–1 advantage in regular production in any types. Ukraine produced 2.2 million drones by 2024 (an increase of 900%), but the cumulative stocks of Russia (estimated at 1.5-2.5 million active) let continuous operational activity.

Massive fire capability: Russia regularly carries out large-scale drone attacks (e.g. evidence 728 drones in 1 night in July 2025, compared with 2264 in the first half of 2024 and 22 495 in the first half of 2025), overwhelming Ukrainian air defence and destroying key facilities.

Technological adaptations to enhance immunity: Russia gained advantage thanks to fiber-guided drones (e.g. Lancet variants), which are resistant to electronic interference – a key Ukrainian remedy. These "low-technology" innovations were called groundbreaking ones, allowing Russia to bypass the electronic combat systems in which Ukraine had previously dominated. Additionally, the Russian integration of artificial intelligence and device imagination in drones improves targeting, although Ukraine excels in autonomous swarms.

Foreign supply chains and sustainable development: Partnerships with Iran (thousands of Shahed imports per year) and China (components up to 70% of drones) supply Russia with a steady supply of capital, avoiding sanctions and maintaining a advanced level of use. This contrasts with Ukraine's dependence on the aid of the West and home companies (more than 200), which face financial problems despite the 22-fold increase in long-range drone production from 2023 to 2024.

The integration of the battlefield and the advantage in the fight to exhaustion: Russia uses its advantage in drones to support infantry raids, forcing Ukraine to adapt defensively, specified as motorcycle avoids. Russian drones in any sectors let an attack rate of 10:1, which deepens its numerical advantage and increases the number of casualties on the Ukrainian side.

There is not a single weapon strategy in which Ukraine could claim to have an advantage. While Russia uses 2 additional weapons systems that Ukraine does not have... hypersonic missiles and combat aircraft. Before you shout: “Wait a minute... Ukraine has combat aircraft”, Russia enjoys an advantage in the air, while Ukrainian aircraft are regularly shot down. Oh, I almost forgot. The Russian fleet of bombers and submarines regularly launch missiles which Ukraine is incapable to destroy.

Whatever losses Ukraine causes to the Russian forces, they light in comparison to what Ukraine loses due to the crushing advantage in Russia's shelling. I don't think Marco Rubio got that message.