Russian forces suffered an average of around 1,500 deaths and injuries per day in Ukraine during October, according to the UK’s chief of the defense staff.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin told the BBC that the Russian people were paying an “extraordinary price” for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, saying October was the worst month in terms of losses since the conflict began in February 2022. .

“Russia is about to have 700,000 people killed or injured – the enormous pain and suffering that the Russian nation has to endure because of Putin’s ambition,” he told Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg.

He said that while Russia was making gains and putting pressure on Ukraine, the losses were due “to small increments of land.”

The cost of the war, which he estimates at more than 40 percent of public spending on defense and security, is also “an enormous drain” on Russia.

A view from a drone showing a destroyed Russian armored vehicle in part of a forest where the hottest phase of the war is taking place on November 9, 2024. The forest is located about 8 kilometers southwest of Kreminna in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin (pictured) told the BBC that the Russian people were paying an “extraordinary price” for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, and said October was the worst month for losses since the conflict began in February 2022.

Putin’s forces (pictured) suffered an average of around 1,500 deaths and injuries per day in Ukraine during October, according to Sir Tony.

As the election of US President-elect Donald Trump casts doubt on US support for Ukraine, Sir Tony said Western allies would support them “as long as it is necessary”.

“That is the message that President Putin must assimilate and peace of mind for President Zelensky,” he said.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Sir Tony said the growing threat from authoritarian states, including Russia, North Korea and the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen, is putting the international community “under immense pressure”.

“This is a new era of competition and competition that will last decades and has the potential to be more damaging to our economy and our security than anything Britain has experienced in modern times,” he wrote.

This comes just two weeks after NATO top brass said Putin had lost more than 600,000 troops in Ukraine, forcing him to increasingly rely on foreign support for his invasion.

The secretary general of the military bloc, Mark Rutte, said that as a result of the heavy losses, North Korean troops were sent to Russia’s Kursk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that North Korea is training 10,000 soldiers to support Russia.

A photo provided shows Ukrainian military installing anti-tank landmines and non-explosive obstacles along the front line at an undisclosed location near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on October 30, 2024.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured) claimed that North Korea is training 10,000 soldiers to support Russia.

“The growing military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” Rutte told reporters after NATO officials and diplomats received a briefing from a Korean delegation. south.

Ukrainian forces conducted a major raid on Kursk in August and remain in the region.

Rutte said the North Korean deployment represented “a significant escalation” of Pyongyang’s involvement in “Russia’s illegal war” in Ukraine, a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and a “dangerous expansion” of the war.

Rutte said the deployment of North Korean troops was a sign of “growing desperation” on Putin’s part.

“More than 600,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Putin’s war and he cannot sustain his attack on Ukraine without foreign support,” Rutte said.