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Russia suffers deadliest day since start of full-scale invasion, Ukraine's military says

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Russia suffers deadliest day since start of full-scale invasion, Ukraine's military says
Ukrainian soldiers of a mortar unit fire a mortar near the embattled town of Toretsk, Donetsk Oblast, on Aug. 18, 2024. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Russian losses in Ukraine reached a record daily high of 1,770, according to figures released by Kyiv on Nov. 11.

The total surpasses the previous record of 1,740 on May 13.

According to the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, Russia's total casualties now stand at 710,660.

The figures do not specify killed or wounded, though the overall consensus is that it includes dead, wounded, missing, and captured. They are broadly in line with estimates from Western nations.

While the Kremlin does not announce the number of dead and injured, Western officials have claimed October was the heaviest month yet for Russian forces.

The number of Russian troops injured and killed last month averaged 1,500 "every single day," U.K. Defence Staff Chief Admiral Anthony Radakin told the BBC on Nov. 10.

This is higher than the previous figure presented by the U.K. Defense Minister John Healey, who told The Telegraph on Nov. 8 that Russia suffered 41,980 killed and wounded during October- a daily average of 1,354.

According to some experts, the surge in losses in recent months may be one of the factors behind the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia.

Russia is sacrificing high numbers of troops for “tiny increments of land,” Radakin told the BBC. However, he added that Russia is making “tactical, territorial gains,” and “putting pressure on Ukraine" amid a heavy offensive.

While Russian forces are suffering record losses, they're also making increasingly swift gains in the east of Ukraine.

According to a Bloomberg analysis published on Nov. 1, Ukraine has lost 1,146 square kilometers of its own territory since the launch of the Kursk Oblast incursion in early August, with the week up until Nov. 1 reported as the worst in terms of lost territory in all of 2024.

On Nov. 2, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Ukraine was facing “one of the most powerful” Russian offensives since the start of the all out war.

Over autumn, large chunks of Ukrainian territory, sometimes including entire cities, have been lost on a near-daily basis in southern Donetsk Oblast, while Russian forces have also made operationally significant gains near Toretsk, Chasiv Yar, Kupiansk, as well as on their own soil in Kursk Oblast.

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The Kyiv Independent news desk

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