The Russian military lost 1,360 troops, nine tanks and 72 unmanned aerial vehicles within the space of 24 hours, according to Ukrainian officials.
The report, posted on X, formerly Twitter, by the account for Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, also said that Moscow lost 89 vehicles, 45 artillery systems, a multiple rocket launch system and 10 pieces of special military equipment in the same time frame.
The latest Ukrainian figures, if accurate, would bring Russia’s total loss of troops since launching its 2022 invasion to 692,080; its loss of tanks to 9,129; and its loss of UAVs to 17,939.
Russia does not routinely publicize its military casualties, and analysts are skeptical of reporting from either side of the conflict. Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian Defense Ministries for comment via email.
Death toll estimates are extremely difficult to verify, with reports from both sides, as well as independent research, suggesting varying figures. Moscow and Kyiv rarely report their own casualty counts.
On October 20, Newsweek reported that Russian forces lost more than 24,000 troops in the space of three weeks, citing data sourced from Ukraine’s armed forces.
Tankers from the 33rd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces ride on a Leopard 2A4 tank during a field training at an undisclosed location in Ukraine on October 27. According to Kyiv’s figures, nine Russian tanks were lost in the past 24 hours.
Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images
On Thursday, statistics from Kyiv’s military indicated that Russia had more than 10,000 casualties in a week.
Moscow said on Monday that Ukraine had 2,000 casualties across the country’s northeast and eastern front lines in the previous day’s fighting.
In September, Newsweek examined Russian troop, tank and artillery losses in 2024.
Russian artillery systems losses hit record highs in July and August, according to Ukrainian figures. In July, Moscow lost 1,520 artillery systems, followed by 1,517 in August. Last month, 1,219 were reportedly destroyed.
More than $8 billion worth of Russian artillery has been destroyed in 2024, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.
“One of the most significant days of losses for Russian forces occurred on September 22, when Ukrainian forces neutralized 81 artillery systems in a single day,” the ministry said in a post on X.
Russian tank and vehicle losses also passed grim milestones recently, with Ukraine’s military saying earlier this month that Moscow’s loss of tanks and armored fighting vehicles had surpassed 9,000 and 18,000, respectively.
May was Russia’s worst month for tank losses so far this year, with 428 destroyed. It was the second deadliest month in the war for Russian tank crews after October 2023, with 521.
Subsequent months saw 359 losses in June, 300 in July and 193 in August.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance, drawing on calculations provided by Forbes Ukraine, the total cost of equipment lost by Russia in Ukraine is now more than $73 billion.
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