Russia’s Ukraine death toll just hit a ‘crazy’ new milestone | World | News
New figures reveal the devastating toll of Russia’s four-year conflict in Ukraine (Image: Getty)
New figures reveal the devastating toll of Russia’s four-year conflict in Ukraine; Tens of thousands of Moscow soldiers lose their lives every month.
Four years after Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, about a fifth of Ukraine remains under Russian control. But while the front lines largely consolidated, Russia’s territorial advances slowed dramatically after seizing significant parts of eastern and southern Ukraine in the first months of the conflict; this established a land bridge to Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.
According to assessments, Ukraine has recaptured only about 1.3% of its territory through military action since the beginning of 2023.
At the Munich Security Conference in February, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced that Russia had suffered “crazy losses” in Ukraine, with nearly 65,000 soldiers killed or wounded in the last two months.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies calculated that Russian forces lose an average of more than 26,000 personnel each month, including those killed, wounded and missing. At least 1.2 million deaths are expected to occur since 2022.
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov disputed these figures.
“I don’t think such reports can or should be considered reliable information,” he said. “The Ministry of Defense has the authority to provide information regarding losses that may occur during the Special Military Operation.”
Official casualty figures have not yet been released by either Moscow or Kyiv.
Confirmation of battlefield casualties has been difficult due to the intensity of the four-year conflict.
Russia’s tactic of launching small waves of infantry assaults on Ukrainian lines represents a costly approach; military experts warn that attackers often suffer heavier losses in battle.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov objected to the figures. (Image: Ukrainian 65th Mechanized Brigade)
At the beginning of the invasion of Russia, fast infantry and armored units swept through much of Ukraine, threatening both the country’s capital, Kiev, and its second largest city, Kharkiv.
They were expelled from northern Ukraine in the spring of 2022, and significant areas of northeastern and southern Ukraine were retaken by successful Ukrainian counteroffensives that autumn.
The nature of fighting along the 746-mile frontline has undergone a dramatic transformation since 2023. Large-scale armored operations were replaced by cheap drones that constantly monitored the line of contact, allowing overstretched Ukrainian defenses to repel a numerically superior Russian force.
Ukrainian soldier fired an RPG (Image: Getty)
Currently, territorial control is changing hands only over modest parcels of land, which are seized by small groups of attackers who often advance on foot or motorcycle before consolidating their positions.
Much of the fiercest fighting was concentrated in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian troops were advancing into what is known as the “fortress belt” of cities.
In recent weeks, Russian forces have also moved closer to Zaporozhye, the capital of one of four Ukrainian provinces that the Kremlin claims as its own along with Crimea, although it occupies only part of the region.
