Russia Loses 1030 Troops, 11 Tanks and 9 APVs in a Day: Kyiv

Russian forces in Ukraine lost more than 1,000 soldiers in the past day, according to Kyiv's military, as clashes continue across the front line in the east of the war-torn country ahead of anticipated offensives in the coming months.

Moscow's armed forces lost 1,030 fighters in the previous 24 hours, Ukraine's General Staff said in an update posted to social media on Wednesday. The new figures bring Ukraine's tally of reported Russian casualties to 439,190.

Kyiv also said the Kremlin's forces had lost 11 tanks and nine armored personnel vehicles over the past day. By Ukraine's count, Russia has now lost more than 6,900 tanks and 13,216 armored personnel vehicles.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Casualty counts and equipment losses in war are notoriously difficult to pin down, and Western experts suggest both Kyiv's and Moscow's reported losses are higher than the true figure. Neither side offers regular updates on their own losses.

But if Ukraine's tally includes overall casualties, as well as Russian fighters who are missing or died in non-combat circumstances, it is a "perfectly plausible" tally, Nick Reynolds, a research fellow for land warfare at the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, told Newsweek in February.

Casualty counts typically spike during drawn-out battles, such when Russia launched its offensive on the strategic Donetsk city of Avdiivka in October. Moscow has controlled the settlement since mid-February.

Earlier in March, the British government said Russia's monthly casualty count throughout February reached the highest point since Moscow's forces crossed into Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia has likely sustained more than 335,000 casualties in this time, London said. This "almost certainly reflects Russia's commitment to mass and attritional warfare," the U.K. Defense Ministry said.

Kyiv is losing its own resources in the war. Russia's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine had lost 15,604 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, plus 8,531 field artillery guns and mortars, since February 2022. Like Ukraine's figures on purported Russian losses, these are very difficult to verify.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said last week that Ukraine had sustained approximately 71,000 casualties since January 2024. This was very similar to the Russian casualty figures put forward by Ukraine's military—Kyiv's tally at the time put Russian casualties at approximately 72,000 since the start of the year.

Despite grinding losses on both sides, Russia is widely expected to launch renewed onslaughts on Ukrainian defenses as the warmer spring and summer months approach. Russia has managed to replenish its stocks of equipment and up its production of new systems, sustaining its attacks on Ukrainian front-line troops.

Ukraine, leaning on Western aid to continue its war effort, is struggling to keep up the pace of its operations without the concrete promise of future deliveries from its largest backer, the U.S.

A $60-billion aid package has languished in Congress for months, and a "short-term stop gap" measure of $300 million in military aid announced by the Pentagon earlier this month will scarcely ease concerns over how Ukraine's depleted ammunition stocks will impact Russian advances.

Russian forces have marginally advanced near the decimated Donetsk city of Bakhmut, with fighting continuing from the northern front lines close to the northeastern city of Kupiansk down to the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, the U.S. think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said on Tuesday.