Moscow updates Ukrainian losses estimate
The Ukrainian army lost more than half a million servicemen in 2024 and a total of over one million since the escalation of the conflict with Moscow in 2022, Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov said on Monday.
Speaking at an extended meeting of the country’s defense board, the minister estimated that most units of Kiev’s army on the front line were severely understaffed, with only 45-50% of positions filled.
“The combat potential of [Kiev’s troops] has been undermined. This year alone, the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces exceeded 560,000 servicemen, either killed or wounded,” Belousov stated, adding that during Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, Kiev lost more than 40,000 soldiers.
“The Russian Armed Forces firmly hold the strategic initiative along the entire line of combat contact. The average daily advance of troops has significantly accelerated and is about 30 square kilometers. The enemy is being forced to go on the defensive and use its remaining reserves,” the minister stressed.
He also said that Russia’s high-precision weapons have caused significant damage to Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and the energy system supporting it, with Kiev “largely losing the ability to produce the necessary weapons, equipment and ammunition.” In 2024 alone, the Russian military destroyed some 58,000 units of various weapons and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, he specified.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky claimed in a post on X that since 2022, only some 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed. Back in February of this year, he insisted that Kiev had lost only 31,000 troops. However, media in the West has been skeptical of those estimates. In late November, The Economist reported that up to half a million Ukrainian troops had been killed or wounded in the conflict, based on leaked intelligence reports, official statements, and open sources.
The Ukrainian army has also been suffering from mass desertion, with troops fleeing in their tens of thousands, according to an Associated Press report in November citing anonymous lawyers and military officials. The report claimed that more than 200,000 soldiers quit the ranks this year alone, with entire units fleeing their frontline positions.
Russia does not make public its losses in the conflict. President Vladimir Putin explained in June that it is not done “as a rule.” He stated at the time, however, that the ratio of losses was approximately one Russian for every five Ukrainians.
