Russia Sees Staggering Jump in Losses in a Month, According to Kyiv Figures

A sharp spike in Russian troop losses has coincided with Moscow's offensive on the town of Avdiivka, according to Ukraine's latest figures.

Russian forces have reportedly suffered high casualties and large equipment losses during their push for the town in the eastern Donetsk oblast that they launched at the start of October.

The number of Russian troops that Kyiv says has been "liquidated" has gradually increased from between 300 and 600 a day since early July to between 600 and 1,000 soldiers since early October. Since July, the lowest-recorded daily total was 320 on September 26 and while, on August 8, there was a high of 820. Most daily losses were in the region of 600. Newsweek could not as yet independently verify the figures. Estimates of casualty numbers vary, given the changing nature of the conflict.

However, in its update on Saturday, Ukraine said that Russia had faced losses of 830. This took the total over the course of the war that started on February 24, 2022 to 304,100. The grim milestone of 300,000 was reached earlier this week.

Ukraine's tally of Russian losses of both troops and equipment is higher than other estimates. At the end of October, British defense officials said that Russia had lost between 150,000 and 190,000 personnel. This comprised those either killed or permanently injured, although it did not include soldiers from the Wagner Group of mercenaries. The U.K. Ministry of Defence said that the push for Avdiivka was behind the rise in losses.

Meanwhile, figures from the investigation outlet Mediazona, in collaboration with the BBC News Russian service, which draws on publicly accessible sources, have calculated that, as of Saturday, 35,780 Russian soldiers have been killed.

It said on November 3, that the actual number of deaths is likely much higher and it had previously estimated that, by the end of May 2023, Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine had killed 47,000 Russians below the age of 50. Again, Newsweek could not as yet independently verify the figures.

In its update released Friday, Mediazona said that 900 names of Russian dead had been added to the list. Obituaries came in from losses in the battle for Avdiivka, a Ukrainian strike at a ship in Sevastopol and those killed from the ATACMS strikes on the Berdyansk and Luhansk airports on October 17.

Mediazona added that most of those killed in action come from the Russian regions, namely Sverdlovsk, Bashkiria, Chelyabinsk and Buryatia.

Russian troops have made confirmed gains on Avdiivka, according to the U.S.-based independent think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW). It said that geolocated footage published on Friday showed Moscow's advances 2½ miles north of the city.

The Ukrainian General Staff said its troops had repelled more than 17 Russian assaults north, west and southwest of the town.

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