Russian forces have suffered around 427,000 soldiers killed or wounded this year, mainly in battles in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Dec. 30.
"Russia continues to carry out constant 'human wave' assaults, suffering record losses. Last week, Russian forces have been losing around 1,700 people killed and wounded every day," Syrskyi said on Telegram after visiting units deployed in Donetsk Oblast.
Russian forces have been advancing at a rapid pace in late 2024, closing in on key Donetsk Oblast towns like Pokrovsk, Toretsk, or Kurakhove at the cost of record losses. Heavy battles continue also in Russia's Kursk Oblast, and Kyiv has warned about possible Russian advances in Ukraine's south.
Ukraine claimed that Moscow's troops suffered their highest casualties in November and December, putting Russia's overall losses throughout the full-scale war at nearly 790,000 by the end of the year.
The figures could not be independently verified. Moscow does not reveal the scale of its war losses but alleges they are lower than those of Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine had lost 43,000 soldiers on the battlefield since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, in addition to 370,000 injuries.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
