Russia suffers record troop losses in October, its worst month since full-scale invasion, Ukraine says
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Russia's combat losses were greater in October 2026 than in any other month since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported.
According to the data from the General Staff, Russia's estimated losses reached 54,400 soldiers in October. That's 8,170 more than in the previous month.
The figure includes those killed, wounded, and missing in action.
The General Staff said the high rate matters because it "exceeds the enemy's ability to replenish its units. Every month of the war is costing the Russian army more and more."
The National Guard's 1st Azov Corps said a significant share of Moscow's losses stemmed from Russia's offensive in the direction of the city of Dobropillia, in Donetsk Oblast.
The Corps estimates it has killed, wounded, and captured over 6,800 Russian troops in "one of the key axes of the Russian offensive."
October was also a record month for Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, its commander Robert "Magyar" Brovdi wrote on social media.
Brovdi said that his forces hit a Russian soldier every 159 seconds in October, averaging 542 casualties daily.
The more Russia racks up combat losses, the greater the need for Moscow to increase its own mobilization efforts.
President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in August that Russia plans to mobilize around 300,000 people after its September election is out of the way.
So far, Moscow announced plans to conscript an additional 120,000 people on Oct. 2.
"Ukrainian Defense Forces will continue to inflict losses on the occupiers until the complete cessation of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine," said the General Staff.
According to the General Staff, Russia has lost 1,590,270 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The General Staff has not revealed its own losses during the full-scale invasion, citing operational secrecy. Independent Western think-tank reports agree that the Russian casualties significantly surpass Ukraine's losses, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimating the ratio to be "roughly 2.5:1 or 2:1."
A January 2026 CSIS report said Ukraine has likely suffered between 500,000 and 600,000 casualties from February 2022 to December 2025, of which between 100,000 and 140,000 are thought to have been killed in action.
