Pentagon Puts Russian Casualties in Ukraine War at 600,000

Russian army soldiers march during an action in support for the soldiers involved in the military operation in Ukraine, at the Mamaev Kurgan, a World War II memorial in Volgograd, Russia, on July 11, 2022. Alexandr Kulikov/AP Photo

Russia has suffered more than 600,000 casualties since its military forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to a senior Defense Department official.

The latest figure was provided by one of at least two U.S. officials granted anonymity to brief reporters on Oct. 9 at the Pentagon on the course of the war.

Estimates of the total Russian casualties during the Ukraine war vary.

The UK defense ministry in February said it estimated 350,000 Russian wounded or dead.

The Ukrainian military on Oct. 4 put the number of at 658,000.

Russia does not comment on its military losses.

In general, Kyiv also has not disclosed the number of Ukrainian soldier casualties as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

However, in February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said some 31,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed.

September also saw Russian forces sustain more casualties in terms of soldiers both killed and wounded in action than in any other month of the war, one of the Pentagon officials said.

“Russian losses, again, both killed and wounded in action in just the first year of the war exceeded the total of all Russian losses, or Soviet losses in any conflict since World War II combined,” the official stated.

Russian Forces Advance on Eastern Donetsk

The estimates come as Russian forces have been gaining ground in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, with Moscow’s troops entering the outskirts of the frontline town of Toretsk this week following a months-long offensive.

Roughly a week prior, Russian forces seized Vuhledar on the Donetsk–Zaporizhia border, prompting Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the area.

Last month, the Russian Defense Ministry said its troops had also retaken the villages of Uspenovka and Borki in the Kursk region after Ukrainian forces began a surprise incursion into Russian territory in August.

Still, another senior military official said Russia has launched some limited and “ineffective” counterattacks in Kursk while also making some gains in Donetsk during the summer. However, those advances have since slowed, he said.

Overall, there have been “no major changes” to Russia or Ukraine’s strategy in the war, the military official said.

Russia is “throwing troops into the fight with an attritional strategy in the eastern provinces in Ukraine,” while Ukrainians are “mounting a strong defense, both on the ground and from an air defense perspective,” he said.

The comments come as Russian President Vladimir Putin scrambles to boost troop numbers, with the Russian leader last month ordering those numbers to increase by 180,000 troops for a total force of 1.5 million soldiers.

The order, which was published in a decree on the Kremlin’s website, is set to take effect on Dec. 1.

In June, Putin said around 700,000 Russian troops were involved in the conflict in Ukraine.

Russia has four and a half times the population of Ukraine.

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet

Elsewhere, one of the Defense Department officials said Ukrainian forces have sunk, destroyed, or damaged at least 32 medium to large Russian navy vessels in the Black Sea, forcing Russia to relocate its Black Sea fleet away from Crimea.

Ukraine’s military has also destroyed more than two-thirds of Russia’s pre-war inventory of tanks, she said.

As a result, Putin has equipped frontline forces with Soviet-era stockpiles and tanks from World War II, according to the official.

This comes after President Joe Biden announced a new round of U.S. military assistance, worth about $8 billion, to Ukraine.

The package includes transfers of Patriot missiles and other air defense systems, as well as the first U.S. transfers of a precision glide bomb, called the Joint Standoff Weapon, which has a range of up to 81 miles and marks a major upgrade to the weapons Ukraine is using to strike Russian forces.

Also in September, Biden ensured the allocation of $5.55 billion of remaining presidential drawdown authority did not expire with the fiscal year, ensuring the United States can continue supporting Ukraine with this drawdown authority, another official said.

“The United States continues to stand with Ukraine as the country stands against Russian aggression,” he concluded.

Chris Summers and Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.