Russian single-day troop losses hit a new high

On December 20th, Russia suffered the highest number of single-day losses it has seen since Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine according to a report from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. 

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry published a post on X revealing that Russia lost 2,200 soldiers from December 19th to the 20th. This figure beat Russia's previous highest number of single-day losses on November 29th, when Ukraine’s General Staff reported that Moscow lost 2,030 troops. 

The news came just weeks after a report from the UK Defence Ministry revealed that November was the worst month Russia has suffered in terms of troop losses since the beginning of the conflict.

Analysis from the UK Defence Ministry indicated that Russian forces experienced their highest casualty figures of the war in November 2024, marking it as the most deadly month in the ongoing conflict to date, though it's possible December 2024 could prove to be even worse.

In a December 5th post on X, the UK Ministry of Defence reported that November 2024 was likely “the most costly month of the war for Russia.”

The average Russian daily number of soldiers killed or wounded throughout November reached the staggeringly high figure of 1,523, which was a new record in the conflict for Moscow. 

“This is the third straight month that Russian Forces have sustained new war high average daily losses,” the defence ministry's report explained. 

According to loss figures from the Ukrainian General Staff quoted by the UK Defence Ministry, Moscow suffered a total of 45,680 casualties in November.

In October, the previous most costly month for Moscow, Russian casualties totaled 41,980, a figure resoundingly beaten by the Kremlin’s November casualties. 

“November was the fifth straight month that Russian Forces have suffered an increase in monthly total losses,” the defence ministry report added. However, this outcome shouldn't have come as a surprise. 

On November 29th, as previously stated, Russia reached what was at the time a terrible new casualty milestone. For the first time since Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces lost over 2,000 troops in a single day. 

According to casualty figures published by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, in the 24-hour period between November 28th and 29th, Russia lost 2,030 military personnel in Ukraine

The news of Moscow’s high loss rate from November 28th to the 29th came just days after Russian losses broke the previous single-day all-time high loss record, which was set all the way back in May 2024. 

Russia suffered a string of devastating, casualty-ridden days in late November according to the Ukrainian General Staff's daily report on Russian equipment and military personnel losses in Ukraine. 

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukrainian General has been recording the Kremlin’s casualty losses in a report that is updated daily.

Reports from November 25th onwards suggested Russia lost well over a thousand troops a day and came close to hitting its previous single-day all-time high losses.  

On November 25th, Russia reportedly lost 1,610 soldiers, followed by 1,480 on the 26th and 1,580 on the 27th for a combined three-day total loss of 4,670 soldiers. 

While the previous numbers may seem high, Russia suffered an even larger single-day loss on November 11th when Moscow lost 1,950 troops in a single day, hitting a new all-time high at the time. 

On November 10th, Russia had just hit its newest highest single-day loss at the time after suffering a total of 1,770 casualties, which put Moscow’s combined two-day losses at 3,720 troops. 

Russia’s previous single-day losses occurred on May 14th when the Kremlin lost 1,740 in a month which proved to be one of the deadliest of the war for Russian forces at that point in the conflict according to the British Ministry of Defence. 

It’s important to point out that the Ukrainian General Staff does not report numbers for Russian soldiers killed in the battle versus those only wounded or captured, though some news outlets and government sources note that the numbers quoted by Ukraine's General Staff include both killed and wounded. 

How many Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded since Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine is unknown. Neither Russia nor Ukraine publish their casualty figures. However, if Ukraine's latest estimates of total Russian losses are correct, it is likely Moscow could reach over one million losses in early 2025. 

As of December 23rd, Russia has reportedly suffered 776,090 losses in the war according to the Ukrainian General Staff. How high Moscow's losses will go before the end of the year has yet to be seen.