Russia lost more than 7,200 troops, 278 artillery systems and over 200 armored personnel vehicles (APVs) in the past week, according to Ukraine’s military, as Moscow’s forces inch westward on the northeast front lines in the war-torn country.
Moscow has lost a total of 424,060 troops in the war, and in the past 24 hours suffered 900 casualties Ukraine’s military said on Sunday.
If Ukraine’s tally includes overall casualties, as well as Russian fighters who are missing or died in non-combat circumstances, it is a “perfectly plausible” tally, Nick Reynolds, a research fellow for land warfare at the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, told Newsweek in February.
Earlier in March, the British government said Russia’s monthly casualty count throughout February reached the highest point since Moscow’s forces crossed into Ukraine for its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia has likely sustained more than 335,000 casualties in this time, London said.
This “almost certainly reflects Russia’s commitment to mass and attritional warfare,” the U.K. Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update.
Russia has also lost 38 artillery systems in the past day, and a total of 10,466 in the more than two years of full-scale war, according to Kyiv’s figures. In the past week, Moscow also lost 211 APVs, Ukraine said, and 91 tanks.
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It is not possible to independently verify Ukraine’s tally. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
Russia does not regularly provide a running count of purported Ukrainian losses, but said on Sunday that Kyiv had lost 895 troops and two tanks in the past day. Ukraine has lost a total of 15,420 tanks and other armored combat vehicles since February 2022.
The Ukrainian military has been contacted for comment via email.
Although accurate casualty counts and equipment losses are notoriously difficult to pin down, the figures do offer an indication of the continuing cost of the war effort for both sides.
Maintaining the number of artillery systems—and the ammunition for them—as well as fleets of armored vehicles and heavy tanks are one of the many priorities for both militaries.
Earlier this week, Kyiv said its forces had targeted the Sergey Kotov, a patrol ship belonging to Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet, in an overnight attack close to the Kerch Strait in eastern Crimea.
As of Sunday, this brings Russia’s total naval vessel losses in the war to 26, according to Ukraine.
While Russia’s casualty count throughout February 2024 was severe, “the resulting effect has increased the pressure on Ukraine’s positions along the front line,” the U.K. government said on March 3.
On Saturday, the U.S. think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said Moscow’s forces had advanced west of the Russian-controlled city of Kreminna, along the eastern front lines.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.