Russia's Winter of Discontent as Troop Losses at All Time High

Russian forces continue to suffer high losses in Ukraine, according to Kyiv whose figures show a spike in casualties over the last three months that have been the highest in such a period since President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion.

On Wednesday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that Russia had lost 890 troops over the previous day, taking the total since the start of the war on February 24, 2022 to 349,190.

So far in December, Russia has lost 19,150 troops, with November and October registering 28,550 and 22,920 troops respectively, according to Kyiv. This three-month tally of 70,620 is more than the previous three-month high of 67,270 in the first quarter of 2023 during the first distinctive spike in casualties. Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment by email.

Last week saw the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine report three days of more than 1,000 Russian losses which come as Moscow continues its offensive on Avdiivka in the Donetsk oblast which Western officials say have led to a spike in casualties.

A U.S. intelligence report cited by Reuters said on December 12 that 87 percent of the 360,000 personnel that Russia had started the war with were killed or injured, totaling around 315,000.

Meanwhile, an admission by Putin during his Direct Line television Q&A that there were 617,000 Russian troops deployed in Ukraine at the moment also hinted at high losses.

Russian military analyst Yan Matveev wrote on Telegram that Putin had inadvertently revealed Moscow's losses, if there were 244,000 mobilized and 486,000 volunteers, meaning that losses were 113,000.

"But there was also the invasion group and those who were recruited before mobilization," of around 250,000, meaning that Putin "literally admitted irretrievable losses in the amount of 363,000 people."

An exact number of Russian losses is difficult to assess with Kyiv's estimates of "liquidated" fighters higher than other figures. In mid-November, the U.K.'s armed forces minister, James Heappey, told British lawmakers around 302,000 Russian personnel had been killed or wounded.

Both sides say little about their losses, with Russia not updating its tally since it admitted to just under 6,000 troop deaths in September 2022. In September 2023, the independent investigative outlet IStories and the war monitoring project Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) reported that one in five mobilized Russian soldiers who died, were killed within two months of enlistment.

Meanwhile, the investigation outlet Mediazona and the BBC News Russian service said on December 15 that 39,424 Russian soldiers had been killed in the war. The outlets based their numbers on verifiable public sources and say that the actual death toll "is likely significantly higher."

Update 12/20/23 2:24 p.m. ET: This article was updated to add details of casualty figures provided by Ukraine.