News Feed

Russian military losses near 300,000 in 2025, Syrskyi says

2 min read
Russian military losses near 300,000 in 2025, Syrskyi says
Memorial wall dedicated to Russian soldiers who lost their lives in the Ukraine-Russia War in Moscow, Russia on August 30, 2025 (Photo by Metin Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Russia has lost nearly 300,000 troops in 2025, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported Sept. 9.

"The Russian army's losses since the beginning of the year have already reached almost 300 thousand (299,210) people," Syrskyi wrote on social media.

Although Moscow does not publicly disclose casualty figures, Ukrainian officials say Russian losses are roughly three times higher than Ukraine's.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has lost more than one million troops, with about 30% of those casualties occurring in the past nine months, according to Ukrainian military estimates.

Western intelligence has largely supported Kyiv's estimates, with British intelligence reporting in August that Russia's troop losses surpassed one million.

Despite experiencing heavy losses with only incremental gains, Russia remains committed to its maximalist demands in Ukraine, which include full control of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly told the White House that he intends to occupy Ukraine's eastern Donbas region by the end of 2025, even though Russia has occupied less than 1% of Ukraine's territory since November 2022.

Avatar
Lucy Pakhnyuk

News Editor

Lucy Pakhnyuk is a North America-based news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked in international development, specializing in democracy, human rights, and governance across Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Her experience includes roles at international NGOs such as Internews, the National Democratic Institute, and Eurasia Foundation. She holds an M.A. in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Read more
News Feed

"This collaboration serves as a testament to our country's commitment to the defense of democratic values, to freedom, and to a just and lasting peace," Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said during a visit to Kyiv.

At a press conference in Kyiv on April 22, Ukraine’s Deposit Guarantee Fund and Polish fintech Zen.com, registered in Lithuania, said the company had acquired First Investment Bank, known as PINbank, which was transferred to the state in 2023 and later declared insolvent.

Vladimir Plahotniuc was Moldova's wealthiest businessman and de facto controlled the country's government in the 2010s in what critics described as a "captured state." His fall from grace is seen by his opponents as part of Moldova's alignment with European liberal and democratic values.

Video

The Kyiv Independent’s Kateryna Denisova sits down with Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's former foreign minister, to discuss U.S.-led peace talks, Donald Trump’s approach to Ukraine, Europe’s role in ending the war, and why he believes neither Washington nor Moscow can impose a settlement on Kyiv.

Show More