The conflict in Ukraine has become the deadliest conflict on European soil since the end of World War Two.  

The total losses on both sides exceeded 1.2 million troops killed or wounded in just over 1,000 days of fighting.  

Ukrainian Casualties  

For the first time since the large-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, the Ukrainian government released official casualty figures.  

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Ukrainian military has thus far lost approximately 413,000 troops in the fighting. More specifically, the Ukrainian leader revealed that the Ukrainian forces have lost 43,000 men killed and 370,000 wounded.  

“Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Ukraine has lost 43,000 soldiers who died on the battlefield," Zelenskyy said, adding that about 370,000 Ukrainian troops have also been wounded. "And this is taking into account that in our army approximately fifty percent of the wounded return to service, and all injuries are recorded, including minor and repeated ones,” the Ukrainian leader added.  

The disclosure came after President Trump made remarks about 400,000 Ukrainian casualties.  

Kyiv had likely been hesitant to release its official casualty numbers for psychological reasons. Despite the existential threat posed by the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian government has refused to impose a mandatory military draft and continues to rely heavily on volunteers. We also knew that the Ukrainian military has a much better medical system than its Russian adversary, resulting in more wounded than killed.  

Although we didn’t know the exact Ukrainian numbers, we knew that they were taking fewer casualties than the Russians. This also matches the historical trend of the attacker suffering more losses than the defendant.  

But even with the official Ukrainian casualties public we now know of the heavy toll the Ukrainians have suffered in defending their country, the Russian military has still taken almost twice as much losses.   

Russian Casualties  

“Updated data on Russian losses exceed 750,000 of their people. This is 198,000 Russians killed and more than 550,000 wounded,” the Ukrainian president stated.  

These figures mean that the Russian military has officially lost its entire initial invasion force (around 190,000 men) killed in the fighting. In addition, it has lost more than twice that force wounded in the fighting.  

And the casualties are only going up. Since May, the Russian forces have been averaging over 1,000 losses every day. And since September, they have been losing an average of almost 1,500 men a day. The latest data suggest that the Russian forces have been losing about five to six men for every Ukrainian casualty in the past three months. November was the deadliest month of the war for the Russian forces, with almost 50,000 losses.  

The Kremlin is fighting an attritional strategy on purpose. It has more men to throw into the meatgrinder than Ukraine, and it also doesn’t care about losses. Russian President Vladimir Putin is cold and cruel. Killed and maimed Russian and foreign men are nameless to him an ideal fuel for his expansionist dreams.  

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.

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