Uncertain Fate of Tens of Thousands of Missing Russian and Ukrainian Soldiers Amid Hopes for War's End

A Russian Defense Ministry official implicitly acknowledged that thousands of Russian soldiers are missing on the Ukrainian front. According to a statement from a non-profit organization, last month saw a record number of requests for searching for Russian military personnel in Ukraine. At the same time, reports and intelligence estimates suggest that the Russian army, disregarding casualties, is seeking to occupy as much territory in Ukraine as possible in recent weeks. Analysts and political officials believe that Moscow aims to strengthen its position in potential upcoming negotiations with Ukraine through this step. According to individuals close to Donald Trump, these negotiations are expected to begin immediately after he enters the White House. The Kremlin is preparing regional officials in Russia for the 'end of the war' in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov answered questions from Tucker Carlson for an hour and a half, reiterating that Russia was not the initiator of the war against Ukraine but is seeking to end the Ukrainian government's war against its citizens in Donbas with its 'special military operation.' In 2014, following a popular revolution in Ukraine and the flight of the Kremlin-backed president to Moscow, unmarked soldiers occupied the Crimean Peninsula, which was home to a Russian military base. Concurrently with the annexation of this Ukrainian peninsula to Russia, Russian intelligence agents were sent to eastern Ukraine to incite a civil war by supporting separatist movements. There is ample evidence of military equipment being sent from Russia to 'separatists' in Donbas, including the Buk system that shot down a passenger plane with 298 people on board. Under the 'Minsk agreements,' Moscow sought to block Kyiv's movement towards the European Union and NATO by forming a 'federal government of Donbas,' which they did not hide was directed by the Kremlin. Ten years after the onset of Russia's hybrid war against Ukraine and nearly three years after the extensive invasion of Russian troops into this country, Sergey Lavrov called for the implementation of the 'Minsk agreements' and deemed Ukraine's NATO membership and the presence of Western troops in Ukraine as non-negotiable. He indicated that the Ukrainian army uses Western weapons to counter Russian forces, stating: 'We are not officially at war with the U.S., but some consider this a hybrid war, and I agree with that definition.' Regarding the conditions for ending the war against Ukraine, he also stated that Kyiv must abandon its anti-Russian policy and repeal all laws that restrict the rights of Russian-speaking citizens and the church under Moscow's control. Four Ukrainian provinces 'according to the Russian constitution' should be handed over to Russia. Russia is ready to guarantee Ukraine's security. According to the Russian foreign minister, Moscow demonstrated to the West that it is 'prepared to use all available means to defend its interests' by launching a medium-range ballistic missile, 'Orshinik,' at the city of Dnipro in Ukraine. He stated that if anyone thinks Russia will retreat from its red lines, 'they are deluded and mistaken.' The Russian foreign minister emphasized that Moscow wants to avoid nuclear war and is ready to cooperate with America, reiterating that 'the ball is in Washington's court.' Sergey Lavrov praised the elected U.S. president, whom he described as 'a powerful politician seeking results who does not want to backtrack,' while also recalling that during Donald Trump's previous term, multiple sanctions were imposed on Russia. He claimed that Russia does not expect sanctions to be lifted because 'the more we are under sanctions, the better we understand that we must be self-sufficient and expand cooperation with friendly countries that do not mix economics and politics.' According to him, 'sanctions do not kill us; they make us stronger.' On the thousandth day of Russia's attack on Ukraine, three scenarios for ending the war have been prepared by Donald Trump's advisors, according to Reuters. According to this report, the plan by Kit Klage, appointed as a special envoy regarding the Ukraine war, calls for a 'cessation' of hostilities along the front lines and considers threatening to cut U.S. military aid to pressure Kyiv to begin negotiations, while conversely threatening to increase military aid to Ukraine to encourage Moscow towards constructive negotiations. The second plan, reportedly proposed by J.D. Vance, the future U.S. vice president, includes creating a buffer zone and reinforcing Ukraine's borders along current front lines. The plan by Richard Grenell, a potential advisor for national security in Donald Trump's government, suggests creating 'autonomous regions' in eastern Ukraine. Recently, Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential office, met in Washington with Donald Trump's advisors involved in drafting potential scenarios for ending the war. Meanwhile, Russia is attempting to change the front lines to occupy more territory in Ukraine. In recent months, the Russian army has been advancing at least in three axes: towards Kharkiv in Svatove and in Pokrovsk and Vuhledar with the aim of occupying the entire territory of the Donbas region and threatening neighboring provinces in the east and south. Military experts estimate that in the past four to five weeks, Russian soldiers have been gaining control of approximately 20 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory daily. Reports indicate that this advance is accompanied by heavy casualties. Official statistics in this regard are not published, but some evidence implicitly confirms these reports. Anna Tsyvilova, Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia, announced during a session in the Duma that this agency had received 48,000 requests from relatives for tracking and identifying missing Russian soldiers through DNA samples by the end of November. Immediately after these statements, Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Defense Committee in the Duma, criticized this Defense Ministry official for not making 'sensitive information public.' Ms. Tsyvilova responded that 'the announced figure represents the number of requests, not the number of missing soldiers.' A video of this session was published but has now been removed from both the Duma's website and the Russian Ministry of Defense's site. It is said that Anna Tsyvilova is the daughter of Vladimir Putin's cousin, and her appointment as Deputy Minister of Defense is another step to strengthen the Kremlin's control over senior Russian military personnel. On Thursday, December 5, a non-profit organization called 'I Want to Find' was established earlier this year to collect requests from relatives of missing Russian soldiers, announced that last month it received 6,876 requests, a record number. In total, more than 45,000 requests have been registered in this database, with 1,540 individuals found, among whom 1,110 have been captured by the Ukrainian army, and the bodies of 80 individuals have also been identified. According to the Russian section of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, many missing Russian soldiers are declared dead after some time, and their relatives often hold funeral ceremonies with empty coffins. According to a joint list by the 'Mediazona' publication and the Russian section of the BBC, the names of 80,973 individuals killed in the war against Ukraine can be seen. A significant number of these individuals were killed two to four weeks after being sent to the front. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has stated that the Russian army alone had over 45,000 killed and wounded in November. Meanwhile, Yuri Butusov, a prominent Ukrainian journalist, reported, citing classified data from the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff, that 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the war, and 35,000 are missing.