Like being put into a meat grinder

A destroyed Russian tank in the village of Pravdyne in the Kherson region of Ukraine. — ©️2024 The New York Times Company

MAY was a particularly deadly month for the Russian army in Ukraine, with an average of more than 1,000 of its soldiers injured or killed each day, according to US, British and other Western intelligence agencies.

But despite its losses, Russia is recruiting 25,000 to 30,000 new soldiers a month — roughly as many as are exiting the battlefield, US officials said. That has allowed its army to keep sending wave after wave of troops at Ukrainian defences, hoping to overwhelm them and break through the trench lines.