Russian Suffers Most Casualties In Single Day Of War Yesterday

Increased Russian offensive efforts invariably lead to significant increases in Russian casualties and losses of armored vehicles, many of which are now exceeding daily records set since the invasion began. JL 

Brendan Cole and David Brendan report in Newsweek:

Another 1,040 Russian troops were "eliminated" between Wednesday and Thursday, which if accurate would make that 24-hour period the deadliest for Moscow's forces since 1,050 were reported eliminated on March 22. Russian forces' losses of four kinds of equipment are about to hit notable milestones: on Thursday, in the previous 24 hours, Russia had lost 14 armored fighting vehicles; Ukraine has destroyed 1,000 Russian drones, after downing 10 on Wednesday; and 28 artillery systems were taken out Wednesday

Ukraine's military reported another 1,040 Russian troops "eliminated" between Wednesday and Thursday, which if accurate would make that 24-hour period the deadliest for Moscow's forces since 1,050 were reported eliminated on March 22.

The latest toll brings the total number of Russian casualties claimed by Kyiv since February 2022 to 462,980. The figure is higher than U.S. estimates, which as of February were at around 315,000 Russian troops dead or wounded.

Russian forces' losses of four kinds of equipment are about to hit notable milestones, according to the latest estimates by Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that, in the previous 24 hours, Russia had lost 14 armored fighting vehicles. This took the total number since the start of Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022 to 13,942—only 58 shy of 14,000.

 

Newsweek has been as yet unable to verify these totals and has emailed the Russian Defense Ministry about Ukraine's latest figures. Kyiv says these "do not claim to be particularly accurate," although they do give "an idea of the general order of losses—how many billions of dollars are left in the form of Russian scrap metal in the fields of Ukraine."

Kyiv has been fighting with depleted ammunition as the Ukrainians await military assistance worth over $60 billion that has just been passed by U.S. Congress. Ukraine is expected to receive a new tranche of equipment within days.

Other round numbers of losses loom for Russian forces, according to Kyiv, which said in its latest update that 57 cars and cisterns had been lost the previous day, taking the total over the course of the war to 15,949, or 51 short of 16,000.

 

Ukraine has destroyed nearly 1,000 drones, after downing 10 on Wednesday, to take the total number of destroyed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that have wreaked havoc on infrastructure in Ukraine to 9,449.

 

Another milestone appears imminent, with 28 artillery systems taken out the previous day, putting the total number of Russian losses of this piece of equipment to 11,836—only 164 short of 12,000.

Ukraine also said on Thursday that, over the previous day, Russia has suffered troop losses of 1,040, the first four-figure number since April 12.

 

The latest figures put Moscow's troop losses over the course of the war at around 462,980, a tally that includes both dead and injured. Accurate troop losses are difficult to assess, and Ukraine's numbers are lower than other estimates.

In February, the British Defense Ministry said Russian losses had numbered 350,000. Independent Russian media outlet Mediazona and BBC Russian reported on April 13 that that at least 50,471 members of the Russian military had died in the war. Among them were 3,300 officers of the army and other security forces, and 390 had the rank of lieutenant colonel and above.

This was based on publicly available information, such as obituaries, graves and inheritance cases, and was likely to be an underestimate.

Mediazona said that more than 27,300 Russian soldiers died in the second year of combat, showing the human cost of the marginal gains made by Moscow as the Russians engaged in the so-called "meat grinder" strategy.

 

The Ukrainian military on Thursday also reported another 13 tanks destroyed for a total of 7,255 since February 2022, another 28 artillery pieces for a total of 11,836, and one more air defense system for a total of 772.

Newsweek cannot independently verify the Ukrainian figures and has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.

Soldiers are pictured at a training area in the Zhytomyr region of northern Ukraine on April 23, 2024. Ukraine's military reported another 1,040 Russian troops "eliminated" between Wednesday and Thursday. UKRINFORM/NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES

Neither Kyiv nor Moscow releases their own detailed casualty figures. BBC News Russian and independent Russian media outlet Mediazona have confirmed around 50,000 Russian deaths since February 2022, and another 25,000 or so killed fighting for Moscow from the occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

 

A New York Times report in August 2023 cited U.S. officials as putting the Ukrainian death toll at close to 70,000. President Volodymyr Zelensky in February acknowledged 31,000 Ukrainians killed in action since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Russian forces appear to be sustaining significant losses as Moscow's plodding offensive grinds on along the eastern front. The Kremlin's troops are on the offensive around the captured Donetsk cities of Avdiivka and Bakhmut, while also pushing forwards in southern Zaporizhzhia Oblast and along the border of Luhansk and Kharkiv Oblasts in the east.

 

Ukrainian troops are resisting while grappling with a severe ammunition shortage, partially caused by the long delay to the U.S. $61 billion funding package, which was finally signed by President Joe Biden this week.

 

It was also revealed this week that the U.S. has already provided Ukraine with the long-sought-after long-range MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System—colloquially known as the ATACMS. Ukrainian forces have reportedly already used the weapon, including in a strike on a military airfield in occupied Crimea.

Ukraine is girding itself for an expected summer Russian offensive, preparatory operations for which are now ongoing. Among the possible targets for the fresh thrust is the strategic city of Chasiv Yar.

"Russian forces have been establishing operational- and strategic-level reserves to support their expected summer offensive effort, but likely have been doing so based on the assumption that even badly-trained and poorly-equipped Russian forces could make advances against Ukrainian forces that lack essential artillery and air defense munitions," the Institute for the Study of War wrote on Saturday.