Russia rapidly approaching major losses milestone: Kyiv

Russia is rapidly approaching a major milestone in terms of loss of troops, nearing 750,000 deaths in the war with Ukraine, Kyiv reported.

In its most recent daily Russian losses update on X, formerly known as Twitter, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense noted that Russia lost 745,700 personnel since the beginning of the war in February 2022, with 1,760 of those losses taking place on December 3.

Kyiv launched a surprise incursion into Kursk in early August, and Russia has struggled to peel back Ukraine’s most significant advance into Russian territory, but now Moscow is taking territory back from Ukrainian forces. Its advances on Ukraine in November amounted to the size of Singapore and was its largest territorial gain since the first weeks of the conflict.

Russia does not publicize their losses, and total casualty figures have not been confirmed on either side. Analysts are skeptical of casualty reports from Russia and Ukraine. Newsweek reached out to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for comment via email.

Daily losses of Russian soldiers approached 2,000 for the past four days, hitting 2,030 on November 29, according to data from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Daily losses for Russian troops have been reaching new heights and noticeably increasing since October 20, with the highest days of losses being on November 11, with 1,950 soldiers lost, and November 28, with 2,030 soldiers lost.

Last week alone, Russia lost 11,390 soldiers in total and also suffered heavy losses in terms of cars and cisterns and UAVs.

The total monthly losses of Russian troops has also steadily risen in the past few months, with losses reaching 38,130 in September, 41,980 in October, and 45,720 in November.

Russia has not only lost soldiers in terms of casualties, but also due to desertions, as an entire regiment of more than 1,000 soldiers left the 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division of the Russian Armed Forces.

The Pentagon has said North Korea has deployed approximately 10,000 soldiers to Russia’s Kursk region to fight alongside Russian soldiers, although neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has confirmed this. This influx of North Korean troops is most likely an effort to stem the growing number of Russian soldiers lost.

Russia has reportedly resisted sending North Korean troops to combat on the front lines, although these soldiers have received training in Russia “in artillery, in UAV and basic infantry operations, including trench clearing, which are critical skills for front-line operations,” according to Vedant Patel, a U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently said that North Korean troops deployed alongside Russian troops against Ukraine would be “cannon fodder.”

Zelensky has recently disputed reports that Ukrainian troop losses have reached 80,000 since the beginning of the war in a recent interview, according to The Kyiv Independent.

The leader said: “Recently, some in, I believe, the American press reported that 80,000 Ukrainians had been killed. I want to tell you that, no, [the number of those killed is] less, much less.”

The Ukrainian president added that Kyiv does not know how many Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in occupied territories of Ukraine and did not provide a specific number regarding total losses since February 2022.