[RetroTechie]

There's census data & trends from pre-war. AIUI there's multiple organisations (besides families) that keep track of people sent to the front, who then went silent (killed, MIA, or even deserted).

Dispute numbers all you want. But the overall trend got bad enough that Russia's government even stopped publishing population figures. Would a normal functioning country do that?

Worse: a big share is people in their 20s or 30s. Many survivors come back with PTSD or handicapped for life. Smart ones have left the country & are building a new life elsewhere. All the funds poured into the war effort are not put into education, IT sector, infrastructure, building houses, science, etc etc.

This is not something any country can recover from quickly. Replenish weapon stocks, sure. But the brain drain, social & economic effects will keep hurting Russia for decades to come.