Russia spends $114.4bn on war in Ukraine in one year - Forbes

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has spent nearly $115bn on aggression, accounting for 30% of Russia's total budget for 2021. In addition, the Russian command has lost entire armies and up to 70% of its ground military equipment, Forbes reported.

Russia spent $114.4 billion on the war (about $10 billion each month). The largest amount of money was spent on supplies for the military - $36 billion for the year, another $24.7 billion went to salaries and $29.1 billion to compensate the wounded and families of the dead," the magazine said.

For example, in the fall of 2022 it was reported that the Russian Armed Forces had lost the First Tank Army, which was the largest tank unit in Europe, and according to Forbes, Russia lost a total of 3,350 tanks during the year, which is 20 more tanks than the enemy country had at the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February of last year.

The famous myth of the 'second world army' has been shattered by the AFU in 12 months," the article said.

Also, the aggressor country has lost about 40-70% of its land-based military equipment in Ukraine. The Ukrainian armed forces destroyed 471 MLRS out of 1,100 units and 2,352 artillery systems out of 3,080 in 12 months.

The publication also pointed to large losses of the Russian army personnel.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in the period from 24 January to 24 February alone, the Ukrainian military managed to destroy 23,680 Russian occupants. This is several times more than the average monthly losses of the Russian Armed Forces in the past year," Forbes said.

According to experts, the catastrophic losses were made possible by the transfer of poorly trained mobilised Russians and former prisoners to the frontline, as well as due to offensives along almost the entire front line.

In addition, Russian aviation has suffered heavy losses. The total value of aircraft that Russia has lost since the beginning of the war has already reached about $6.5 billion. Destroyed helicopters have cost another $3 billion.

As for missiles, according to the Defense Ministry, Russia had 2,727 long-range cruise and ballistic missiles and more than 8,500 short-range (up to 200 km) missiles at the start of the invasion. In 12 months, the Russians used more than 4,000 missiles. In recent months the rate of fire has almost halved, from 250-300 to 110-180 missiles per month. This could mean that the Russian missile arsenal is exhausted.