NATO, Ukraine, Russia, Jens Stoltenberg, Casualties, NATO-Russia

Stoltenberg: Russia has lost over 350,000 troops in Ukraine

by Dmytro Basmat March 15, 2024 12:45 AM 2 min read

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg holds a press conference at NATO headquarters on Feb. 14, 2024 in Brussels, Belgium. (Omar Havana / Getty Images)

This audio is created with AI assistance

Russia has lost over 350,000 troops in Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference on March 14.

"Russia is paying a very high price for minor gains," Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels. "Putin's war has already cost Russia over 350,000 military casualties."

Stoltenberg's estimates refer to the total number of killed and injured Russian soldiers, and is seemingly in line with estimates made by U.S. officials last month that claim that over 315,000 Russian troops had either been killed or injured so far in the war.

Total estimates of Russia's casualties since the full-scale invasion vary widely.

As of March 14, Ukraine's General Staff says that Russia has lost 427,840 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion.

Late last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed for the first time that 180,000 Russians have been killed in war, as opposed to 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers. Zelensky added that the exact amount is unknown and it would only be possible to find out once the territories were liberated.

Independent Russian media outlets Meduza and Mediazona reported in a joint study on Feb. 24 that at least 83,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in Russia's war.

Dmytro Basmat

Senior News Editor

Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University. Read more

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