During the first two weeks of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian army claimed that the Russians had suffered heavy losses, not infrequently with about a thousand men every day.

But now the alleged Russian losses have been toned down.

In recent weeks, it has been consistently claimed that between 200 and 400 Russian soldiers were killed daily.

How many of their own have fallen is published much less often.

According to Ola Svenonius, a researcher at the Swedish Defense Research Agency, the figures should be seen as part of a well-thought-out communication strategy - propaganda in other words.

- These are macabre figures to handle, but I look at them with great caution, he says.

- They want to show war successes, that things are going badly for the Russians.

The Ukrainian military's figures on the number of alleged daily Russian losses have been declining recently.

Photo: SVT Grafik

A kind of middle ground

Why from the Ukrainian side nowadays it is said that, compared to before, relatively few Russian soldiers are killed every day can only be speculated on, according to Ola Svenonius.

But one explanation may be that you have chosen a kind of middle ground.

- If we approach the figures as pure propaganda instruments, it is conceivable that before the forthcoming negotiations they want to signal that the war is going badly for Russia, that nothing is happening, he says and continues:

- On the contrary, if they continued to show numbers in the thousands, after a while one might wonder why they do not emerge victorious from this soon.

Alternatively, if they were to report zero, then people would probably think that things are going badly for the Ukrainian army.

Other targets of Russian propaganda

According to Russia, 1,300 soldiers have fallen in Ukraine in what the country's authorities still call a "special military operation".

Why Russia does not issue death figures as often may be partly because they want the focus to be on something else, according to Ola Svenonius.

- Russia and Ukraine have different goals from a propaganda perspective.

From the Ukrainian side, it is important to show that there is active and strong resistance, he says.

- I think Russia is more focused on other types of communication.

It is more focused on audiences that are not primarily Western European, it focuses on the overall issues, Nazis in the Ukrainian army, Western double standards and so on.