Combined war casualties in Russia’s war on Ukraine could soon hit 2 million: New report

KYIV: A new report warned that the number of soldiers killed, injured or missing on both sides of Russia’s war on Ukraine could hit 2 million by the spring, with Russia suffering the largest number of troop deaths recorded for any major power in any war since World War II.

The report from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies came less than a month before the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s onslaught on Ukraine. Officials said Wednesday that two people were killed on the outskirts of Kyiv after Russian strikes hit an apartment block, and at least nine people were injured in separate attacks in the Ukrainian cities of Odesa and Kryvyi Rih and the front-line Zaporizhzhia region.

The CSIS report released Tuesday said Russia suffered 1.2 million casualties, including up to 325,000 troop deaths, between the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 and December 2025.

“Despite claims of battlefield momentum in Ukraine, the data shows that Russia is paying an extraordinary price for minimal gains and is in decline as a major power,” the report said.

“No major power has suffered anywhere near these numbers of casualties or fatalities in any war since World War II,” it added.

It is estimated that Ukraine, with its smaller army and population, suffered between 500,000 and 600,000 casualties, including up to

140,000 deaths.

Neither Moscow nor Kyiv gives timely data on military losses, and each is at pains to amplify the other side’s casualties. Russia has publicly acknowledged the deaths of just over 6,000 soldiers. Reports about military losses have been repressed in Russian media, activists and independent journalists say.

The report estimated that at current rates, combined Russian and Ukrainian casualties may be as high as 1.8 million and could reach 2 million by the spring.

The figures from the CSIS were compiled using the Washington, D.C.-based think tank’s own analysis,

data published by independent Russian news site Mediazona with the BBC, estimates by the British government and interviews with

state officials.

Mediazona, together with the BBC and a team of volunteers, has so far collected the names of over 160,000 troops killed by scouring news reports, social media and government websites.agencies