The Meat Grinder: Russian Infantry Losses and the Morale Surge in Ukrainian Ranks

In the scorched wheat fields and shattered forests of eastern Ukraine, a grim and grinding battle is unfolding in the summer of 2025. The Russian Federation’s armed forces, under orders from Moscow to retake lost ground and overwhelm Ukrainian defences, are suffering some of the heaviest infantry losses since the early days of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Analysts, drone footage and Ukrainian frontline reports point to a mounting toll that has turned certain sectors of the front into what some Ukrainian soldiers now grimly call “meat corridors”, where Russian troops just go to die.

Why Are Russian Losses So High?

At the heart of the staggering Russian casualty rate is a continued reliance on massed human wave assaults, a tactic that harks back to Soviet-era strategies but is woefully mismatched to modern drone-saturated, precision-guided battlefields. Russian infantry, often comprising poorly trained reservists, prison recruits from the “Storm-Z” penal battalions, and minimally equipped conscripts, are repeatedly thrown against fortified Ukrainian positions under limited artillery cover and with inadequate logistical support.

While Russia has ramped up her drone and artillery production, she has struggled to adapt her operational doctrines. Instead of manoeuvre warfare, Moscow has doubled down on attritional frontal assaults in Donetsk, Luhansk, and increasingly near Kharkiv and the Siverskyi Donets river valley. Reports from Ukrainian military intelligence and intercepted communications suggest a rigid command structure and fear of initiative among junior Russian officers, leading to repeated costly failures in tactical adaptation.

The Ukrainian Morale Advantage

In stark contrast to the often-demoralised and rudderless Russian infantry, Ukrainian troops—hardened by years of war and bolstered by more capable Western-supplied equipment—report a growing sense of psychological and strategic advantage. Units defending key positions in Chasiv Yar, areas in proximity to Avdiivka’s ruins and near Kupiansk have publicly described repelling wave after wave of enemy troops with minimal casualties of their own, thanks in part to superior surveillance from drone fleets, Starlink communication links, and better planned defensive structures.

This morale edge is not simply anecdotal. Ukrainian commanders report higher rates of re-enlistment and increased volunteerism among civilians for frontline support roles. Ukrainian social media—previously filled with messages of stoic endurance—is now alive with videos of Russian assaults being decimated by precise artillery fire or loitering munitions. The psychological power of visible battlefield success has reinvigorated Ukrainian troops after the grinding stalemates of 2023–2024.

Can Moscow Sustain the Bloodletting?

As of mid-2025, estimates from Western intelligence agencies suggest Russia has lost between 60,000 and 80,000 soldiers in the past six months alone—dead or gravely wounded. These figures are contested but corroborated by indirect data: medical supply shortages, expanded military cemeteries in places like Rostov and Omsk, and regional governors issuing ever more desperate mobilisation appeals.

Russia’s manpower reservoir, while immense, is not infinite. The Kremlin continues to avoid a full national mobilisation, likely fearing the political backlash. Instead it leans on conscription cycles, regional coercion, prison recruitment and financial incentives for contract soldiers. But exhaustion is setting in. Reports of unrest in rear-area barracks, increasing desertion rates and family protests in rural Russian oblasts are growing. Even propaganda outlets now refer obliquely to “unavoidable sacrifices for the motherland.”

Moreover Russia’s economic base is under strain. Sanctions have not collapsed the economy, but they have crippled advanced military production. Moscow increasingly imports munitions and drones from North Korea and Iran, while spending on military salaries and death compensation now outpaces some critical civilian budgets.

The Long Summer Ahead

The summer of 2025 is shaping up as a crucible. Ukraine’s defensive lines are holding and in some sectors even counterpunching. Russian tactics remain stubbornly attritional, with little evidence of strategic evolution. If the current pace of casualties continues, analysts believe Moscow could face not just a military quagmire, but a political reckoning. At some point, quantity will no longer make up for the lack of quality.

For Ukraine these heavy Russian losses are a source of both tactical opportunity and moral urgency. The war remains existential, and each battered wave of Russian troops repelled from the trenches reinforces not only the physical defence of Ukraine but the conviction that some sort of victory is not only necessary; it is increasingly plausible.