Russia’s Casualty Toll in Ukraine War
Russia has sustained more than 600,000 casualties during the war in Ukraine, a sign of losses accelerating out of proportion with its gains, Pentagon officials said. This number is a sharp increase from estimates early in the year that were in the 350,000 range.
The September was the deadliest month for Russian troops in Ukraine, with the total number of Russian dead and injured reaching over 600,000 since the onset of the conflict. The high casualty rates have necessitated rapid deployment of new recruits to the front lines, often resulting in poorly trained soldiers being sent into combat.
Despite these losses, Russia is reportedly recruiting between 25,000 and 30,000 new soldiers each month, approximately matching the number of troops leaving the battlefield. This influx has enabled the Russian military to continuously launch successive waves of troops against Ukrainian positions, aiming to overwhelm their defenses and penetrate entrenched lines.
The Pentagon estimates that Russian combat losses far exceed the numbers of all the Kremlin’s post-World War II conflicts combined. The Ukrainians are mounting a strong defense, both on the ground and from an air defense perspective, but Ukraine still faces a daunting challenge against a much larger force that Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to pour resources into.
