Russian forces are paying a high cost in soldiers and materiel in their invasion, according to Kyiv’s latest figures that detail the highest combination of troop and equipment losses since the start of the war, including a strike on a warship.
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Wednesday that over the previous 24 hours, Russia had suffered troop losses of 1,250, taking the total over the two years of the war to 420,270.
Kyiv’s latest estimate of equipment losses included 21 tanks, 40 armored fighting vehicles, 50 artillery systems, one Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS).
Ukraine said that Russia also lost 58 drones, one cruise missile, 56 cars and cisterns and 12 pieces of special equipment.
Scott Peterson/Getty Images
A drone strike on patrol ship, Sergey Kotov near the Kerch Strait was claimed by Kyiv and dealt another blow to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, taking the total Russian equipment losses on Tuesday to 241, according to Kyiv.
Wednesday’s tally of personnel losses was the sixth highest since the war began and the most since the 1,290 reached on February 18. There were six other occasions Kyiv posted the same, or higher, Russian personnel losses, but those tallies did not coincide with total equipment losses as high as Tuesday’s.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
As Russian forces continued to make incremental advances along the front line following their capture of the Donetsk town of Avdiivka on February 17, they lost more than 1,000 troops on four days between February 25 and March 3, according to Kyiv.
Russia’s other highest losses according to Kyiv were 1,250 on December 16; 1,300 two days earlier; 1,270 on December 5; 1,280 on November 30; and 1,330 on November 15.
Casualty counts and tallies of equipment losses are hard to ascertain with experts saying that both sides inflate the figures of their adversaries, although Ukraine’s counts are thought to be roughly accurate while estimates from western governments provide lower numbers.
Ukraine says its figures are “approximate” and, last week, clarified that its daily tally of Russian losses included both dead and injured. Until August 23, 2023, Ukraine had described losses as “liquidated” which Ukrainian and other foreign outlets frequently interpreted as killed.
In February, Andriy Kovalyov, spokesman for Ukraine’s General Staff, said that Kyiv’s figures were “total combat losses” and included both dead and injured. This followed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement on February 25 that 180,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the war so far.
Zelensky revealed for the first time Ukraine’s losses, which he said were around 31,000, although U.S. officials told The New York Times in August 2023 that around 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, and around 120,000 wounded.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.