Russia Loses 43 Artillery Systems, 20 APVs and 11 Tanks in a Day: Ukraine

Russia reportedly lost dozens more pieces of military equipment in a single day over the weekend, according to new figures posted by Ukraine.

Between April 27 and 28, Russian forces are estimated to have suffered the loss of 43 artillery systems, 20 armored patrol vehicles (APVs) and 11 tanks. The newly published figures take the total number of artillery systems lost in the ongoing conflict to 11,948, with armored patrol vehicle losses reaching 13,991 and destroyed tanks totaling 7,279.

A preliminary figure of 1,096 additional personnel losses have also been reported by Ukraine’s Armed Forces. It would make the total number of losses recorded by Ukraine at 466,150, but the accuracy of these figures is disputed.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment via email outside of normal working hours.

The U.K. Ministry of Defence last week estimated the total number of Russian military casualties since the beginning of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 to be approaching half a million.

“We estimate that approximately 450,000 Russian military personnel have been killed or wounded, and tens of thousands more have already deserted since the start of the conflict,” Leo Docherty, the U.K. minister for the Armed Forces said last week. “The number of personnel killed serving in Russian private military companies (PMCs) is not clear.

“We also estimate that over 10,000 Russian armored vehicles, including nearly 3,000 main battle tanks, 109 fixed wing aircraft, 136 helicopters, 346 unmanned aerial vehicles, 23 naval vessels of all classes, and over 1,500 artillery systems of all types have been destroyed, abandoned, or captured by Ukraine since the start of the conflict,” Docherty said of the U.K. estimates.

Ukrainian figures differ considerably from this. The country’s April 28 figures report the loss of 348 fixed-wing aircraft, 325 helicopters, 9,507 unmanned aerial vehicles, and 26 naval vessels.

Up-to-date U.S. estimates of Russian losses are not available. In December 2023, U.S. intelligence estimated that Russia had suffered 315,000 dead and injured troops.

The only official death toll released by Moscow during the war, in September 2022, said that just under 6,000 of its soldiers had been killed in the conflict. No figures were given for losses of equipment, vehicles and weapons.

In February Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 31,000 members of his country’s armed forces had died during the war.

“31,000 Ukrainian military personnel have been killed in this war. Not 300,000, not 150,000, not whatever Putin and his deceitful circle have been lying about. But nevertheless, each of these losses is a great sacrifice for us,” Zelensky said.