A destroyed Russian tank in Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, on Dec. 23, 2023. (Kostya Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
Russia has lost 971,690 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on May 16.
The number includes 1,100 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,825 tanks, 22,546 armored fighting vehicles, 48,713 vehicles and fuel tanks, 27,908 artillery systems, 1,385 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,167 air defense systems, 372 airplanes, 336 helicopters, 36,123 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.
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Ukraine’s top commander said a battalion commander will face a legal review after Ukrainian troops abandoned a command post in the Huliaipole sector, leaving behind equipment and potentially sensitive materials.
Zelensky tells Fox News' Bret Baier that Ukraine has demonstrated concrete steps toward peace over the past month and raised the possibility of a referendum on the peace plan. At the same time, a referendum would not legitimize withdrawing from Ukrainian territory, given the current security realities.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Dec. 29 that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him Ukraine had tried to attack Putin's residence, an allegation Kyiv has denied. "I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it," Trump said.
Zelensky dismissed Russian claims that Ukrainian drones targeted Putin’s residence as “another lie,” warning Moscow is using the allegation as a pretext for possible strikes on Kyiv and government buildings.
Kyiv failed to implement nine indicators in the last three months of 2025, the highest number missed in any quarter since the Ukraine Facility began in 2024, according to a Dec. 29 assessment by RRR4U.
Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command says Huliaipole is now a gray zone, with no clear front line anymore, according to spokesperson Vladyslav Voloshyn.
"I told (Trump) that we would like to consider guarantees for 30, 40, or even 50 years, and that would be a historic decision by president Trump. The president said he would think about it," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Russian troops shot dead two unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war on Dec. 27 in the village of Shakhove near Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office reported on Dec. 29, in what appeared to be at least the third reported case this month of captured Ukrainian soldiers being killed after being taken prisoner.
"They're going to be helping. Russia is going to be helping," U.S. President Donald Trump said when asked if Moscow would hold any responsibility for Ukraine's reconstruction.
