The Russian war against Ukraine has been going on for more than two months. For Russia and Vladimir Putin, things did not go according to plan from the very beginning.. Moreover, the war is getting more expensive. How much is Moscow actually spending on its senseless invasion?

The German edition of Focus provides certain calculations that can answer this question.. The media has already given different numbers. However, there are still no accurate verified data on the number of Russian dead and wounded, as well as on the amount of equipment lost, on the costs of attacks, etc.. And from all this the price of war is formed.. The crazy figure of $1 billion that Putin spends every day on aggression against Ukraine appeared in the press..

To check if this is so, you need to find out the approximate size of the Russian army.

How many military and weapons?

Various sources say that the number of Russian soldiers varies from 150,000 to 200,000.. Expert Tommi Ahonen believes that about 190,000 Russian troops are involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For such a number of personnel, approximately 19 thousand units of various military equipment are required.. These numbers may not be accurate.. However, according to Focus, they can differ from reality by about a few hundred. Therefore, in further calculations, these figures are used as the basis. Russian military logic suggests that troops should be able to operate in a hostile environment. This means that for each soldier there should be a place in armored vehicles.. Based on this logic, Ahonen believes that 40% of the equipment in the hands of Russia are armored personnel carriers, 30% are tanks, 20% are artillery systems and 10% are other types of military vehicles, into which the expert introduces air defense systems, trucks, etc.. So it turns out that Russia should have 7600 units of armored personnel carriers, 5700 tanks, 3800 units of various artillery installations and approximately 1900 units of other military vehicles.

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The most expensive factor in the war for Putin is, of course, artillery, which uses a large amount of expensive ammunition.. It is no coincidence that more than half of Russian cargo destined for Ukraine is artillery ammunition.. Focus divides all artillery systems available in Russia roughly into two even groups: self-propelled howitzers and self-propelled mortars. The publication believes that one artillery self-propelled howitzer per day can fire a maximum of 250 shots.. And if we imagine that there are 1900 such installations in Russia, this is 475 thousand rounds per day or 24 thousand tons of ammunition. Of course, all Russian guns don't fire every day.. But Ahonen believes that if this happened, then the maximum cost of such artillery fire in one day would be worth 475 million dollars.. Another 1900 self-propelled grenade launchers are also capable of firing no more than 250 rounds per day.. Which means they all need 5,000 tons of ammunition.. The maximum cost of shooting from such installations is 95 million dollars a day.. The Russian military is also firing other more portable weapons, such as grenade launchers.. Focus believes that Moscow spends a maximum of $30 million a day on this.

Therefore, Russia's real spending on shooting alone is highly dependent on how its soldiers shoot in Ukraine.. On April 28, Forbes also published estimates stating that in the 62 days of the war at that time, Moscow spent $7.5 billion on missiles.. And this means that a day of rocket attacks costs the aggressor approximately $120 million..

Expensive fuel.

Another important item of expenditure is fuel.. Most of all it is " Thus, Focus believes that Moscow needs to spend $6.3 million a day to supply all 5,700 tanks.. Russian military aviation also needs a lot of fuel. The Russian Air Force performs about 200 sorties daily. In mid-March, their number rose to almost 300. Given that one flight requires 4 to 10 tons of fuel, it can be assumed that Russia spends 2.3 million dollars on this every day.. All other Russian combat vehicles use approximately 5.9 million liters of fuel.. Therefore, as a result, Russia spends about $ 15.5 million daily on fuel alone..

Cheap mercenaries.

Russian laws oblige the Kremlin to pay compensation for the wounded and death of soldiers. And it's expensive. Statistical calculations say that on average 365 Russian soldiers die in the war against Ukraine every day.. And if we assume that for one dead there are approximately 1.72 wounded, then Moscow has to pay 11.8 million dollars daily to those who were crippled in battle, and approximately 11.2 million to the families of the dead.. This is why soldiers cost Russia $23 million a day..

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But Putin also employs roughly 20,000 cheap mercenaries from countries like Syria and Libya.. Each one costs about $1,800 per month.. At the same time, the death of such fighters does not oblige Moscow to anything.. Russia spent $36 million on mercenaries in a month, or $1.2 million every day.

Lost military equipment.

If you count everything that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already destroyed in this war, then the Russian account becomes even larger. Only the cruiser Moskva, sunk by Ukrainian missiles, cost $760 million. According to various estimates, the Russian army has already lost about $10 billion worth of equipment.. But the real figure is likely even higher.. Focus writes that Moscow will have to spend at least $14.7 billion to repair or replace all lost equipment.. It is important to note that in modern warfare, lost armored vehicles cannot simply be replaced with old models from warehouses.. Therefore, the daily loss of equipment, according to the publication, costs Russia about $ 230 million..

As for Russian soldiers, they need to be paid not only in case of death or injury. And in peacetime, the state is obliged to pay them salaries.. Therefore, the publication does not take into account these costs in its calculations of the daily cost of the war against Ukraine..

Maximum and real price tag.

Thus, the final maximum cost of one day of aggression could cost Russia $993.7 million.. But this is the maximum price tag.. Of course, not every artillery mount shoots and not every tank mercilessly burns fuel every day without fail. Focus estimates that Russia's real spending for one day of war against Ukraine is approximately $534.5 million.. However, it is obvious that the statements about one billion dollars that appeared in the media earlier are also not taken from the ceiling.. There are some days when the battles are especially heavy and large-scale.. And then Moscow has to spend especially much.

However, half a billion dollars of daily spending is a very realistic estimate.. Although it makes Putin's invasion of Ukraine the most expensive war of all time.

Cheap plan "

But, obviously, Putin was not going to spend such large sums. According to his plan " Western experts also believed that such a scenario was possible.. It can be assumed that all Russian military equipment would have been used in such an intensive campaign.. Fuel consumption would also be maximum. However, according to Focus, only a third of the maximum amount of ammunition would be required.. Ahonen believes that Putin was not preparing to pay compensation for the massive losses of the military. Mercenaries were also not taken into account in the original plan.. Thus, according to Focus estimates, Moscow expected that its “small victorious war” would cost only a billion dollars.. This appears to have been Putin's budget for the invasion of Ukraine..

More expensive plan "

As everyone knows, the Russian attempt to quickly defeat the Armed Forces of Ukraine failed. So there was a plan " Putin wanted to first cordon off the Ukrainian capital, mine its surroundings, and then shoot civilians to force the city to surrender under the pressure of the siege.. The same plans were for other large cities of Ukraine.. Russia planned to spend up to six months on all this.. In this regard, the costs of paying compensation for the death or injury of Russian soldiers were also not taken into account.. Also, no one in Moscow was going to spend money on mercenaries.. However, such a plan allowed to reduce the cost of ammunition and missiles.. Focus estimates that such a six-month war would cost Russia $11.23 billion..

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However, Moscow seemed to expect to apply its plan " Therefore, their cost should be combined. Russia would spend $12.23 billion in six months.

But the war turned out to be more expensive.

However, Russian plans failed. It was not possible to conquer Ukraine cheaply and quickly. Therefore, the war is becoming more and more expensive for Putin. Instead of the expected six-month high of $12.23 billion, Moscow has already spent $34 billion on aggression against the neighboring country.. And that's only two months.. And at the same time, another billion dollars are added to this amount every two days..

At this pace, it is likely that money will become a problem for Putin in the near future.. Moreover, sanctions are also putting pressure on the Russian economy.. How Russia will react to the problem? hard to predict. Maybe on May 9th there will be a clue. However, if Putin does announce a big mobilization on this day, it will be expensive for Russia.. And where to get this money is not clear.