Russia is losing men faster than at any point this year. Russian occupation forces lost 42,860 personnel in July 2026, the highest monthly figure since the start of the year, Ukraine's General Staff reported on 1 August.

The toll works out to roughly 1,380 Russian soldiers killed or wounded every day in July. Across the first seven months of 2026, Russian personnel losses reached 238,650, per the General Staff, the running cost of an offensive that has gained little ground.

The monthly toll has climbed almost without pause

The figures show a steady rise throughout the year. Russia's monthly losses ran from about 31,700 in January down to 26,100 in February, then climbed through the spring: roughly 32,000 in March, 33,000 in April, 33,800 in May, 39,300 in June, and 42,860 in July.

After February, the line only goes up. Each month from March onward costs Russia more men than the one before, and July's total is more than a third higher than June's was just two months into that climb.

The losses buy little ground

The rising toll reflects how Russia fights, not how much it gains. Russia has spent 2026 pressing costly infantry-led assaults across the front, trading men for meters near Pokrovsk, Kostiantynivka, and in the north, and the climbing casualty curve is the price of that method rather than evidence of a breakthrough.

The numbers are the General Staff's own count and cannot be independently verified, and Ukraine reports enemy losses without detailing its own. But the trend they describe, a war growing more lethal for the attacker month by month, matches what independent analysts have tracked through 2026.

The cost is the point

Moscow has bet that it can outlast Ukraine by feeding in more men than Ukraine can, accepting losses that any other army would treat as catastrophic.

Whether that bet holds depends on Russia's ability to keep replacing 40,000 men a month, drawn from recruitment bonuses, prison enlistment, and the quiet mobilization Russia has avoided calling one. July shows the bill still rising.

A Russian military jet — reported to be the newest Su-57, the country's only operational stealth fighter — crashed in Moscow Oblast on 23 July, Russian and Ukrainian channels reported. The pilot ejected and survived, and officials reported no casualties on the ground. Russia's own pro-war blogger pointed the finger at Russia's air defense.

What is known about the crash

The jet went down around 13:50 in the Odintsovo district near Zvenigorod, west of Moscow. Russian outlet REN TV reported the crash, and local channel Zven_Info published photos of a fire in a field near homes. Russian Telegram channel Mash said the aircraft was a Su-57 on a training flight and that the pilot ejected.

Russia's Defense Ministry, through state news agency TASS, said a combat-trainer crashed during takeoff, that the pilot ejected, and that there was no destruction on the ground. Officials did not confirm the aircraft type or the cause.

Russia's own bloggers point at Moscow's air defense

Russia's bloggers went further than the officials. Milblogger Romanov wrote that "a number of questions" should go to the crew of BARS-Moskva, a mobile air-defense group guarding the capital. Another Russian channel, arrowsmap, said the jet's own air-defense crew shot it down and asked whether a shoulder-fired missile had felled a fifth-generation fighter.

Those bloggers also warned that pulling such crews back would leave Moscow's skies open to Ukrainian drones. Ukraine had no role in the loss, and none of the friendly-fire claims carried official confirmation.

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The Su-57, and how often it meets trouble

The Su-57 is Russia's most advanced fighter, built by Sukhoi and first flown in 2010. Russia took its first serial jet into service in 2020, in small numbers. The type has a rough record: one of the first serial aircraft crashed in Khabarovsk Krai in December 2019, before the military even received it.

Ukrainian drones first damaged two Su-57s at the Akhtubinsk airbase in June 2024. In spring 2026, drones reached more of them at Shagol near the Urals, where Russian unit-cost estimates run to $100–120 million each. Russia has since kept the jet away from missions over Ukraine.

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Friendly fire

More often than not, Russian air defenders are yet another threat to their own pilots. 

Russia's air defenses shot down their own Su-27 over occupied Crimea in March 2024, killed a Su-35 pilot with an S-300 over occupied Tokmak in 2023, and opened fire on one of their own helicopters near Moscow in 2025 after mistaking it for a drone. 

Poor coordination between Russian aviation and its air-defense crews has cost Moscow its own aircraft again and again. Losing a scarce fifth-generation jet the same way would say more about the air defense meant to shield Moscow than about anything Ukraine did that day.

Ukraine says it destroyed one of the Russian bombers that hits its cities. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said its long-range drones flew about 800 kilometers to the Engels military airfield in Russia's Saratov Oblast and struck a Tu-95 strategic bomber, tearing off its tail section entirely.

The claim is the confirmation Ukraine had not yet made this morning. EP reported earlier on 16 July that open-source analysts had identified a fire at Engels-2 following an overnight drone strike, with no confirmed aircraft loss. The SBU has now claimed a specific result: a Tu-95 with its tail section destroyed.

The damage is described as critical, and the account is the SBU's own and has not yet been independently verified by imagery.

The SBU said the operation carried out tasks set by the president to reduce the military-economic potential of the aggressor state, and framed each destroyed bomber as dozens of missiles never fired at Ukrainian cities.

Engels is base Ukraine keeps coming back to

Engels-2 is one of Russia's principal strategic aviation bases, home to the Tu-95MS and Tu-160 bombers Russia uses to fire Kh-101 and Kh-555 cruise missiles at Ukrainian cities, roughly once or twice a month in salvos of dozens of missiles. Russia had around 60 Tu-95 aircraft as of 2023, a Soviet-era fleet it can no longer build, which is what makes each loss matter.

Ukraine has struck Engels since December 2022, mostly hitting fuel depots and munitions storage. A March 2025 SBU drone strike destroyed nearly 100 air-launched cruise missiles at the base. An April 2025 strike on Engels destroyed one Tu-95MS and damaged two others. If today's claim holds, it is another confirmed bomber loss at a base Russia has repeatedly expanded and failed to protect.

Bomber-hunting campaign has bigger precedent

Ukraine's most spectacular strike on Russian strategic aviation was Operation Pavutynnia ("Spiderweb") on 1 June 2025, when SBU drones smuggled deep inside Russia struck bombers at airbases as far as Irkutsk in Siberia. Ukraine said that the operation hit over 40 Russian aircraft.

The Soviet Union built Russia's strategic bombers, and they are effectively out of production, meaning that a Tu-95 lost is a Tu-95 gone for good.

"Russia's strategic aviation can no longer feel safe even at its most remote military airfields," the SBU said.

The 800-kilometer reach it claimed for this strike is the argument: there is no longer a Russian airbase far enough back to be out of range.

Ukraine's Air Force said it shot down a Russian Su-35 multirole fighter on 8 July. The Air Force reported the shootdown in the eastern direction. No imagery of the downed aircraft has been published, and the claim has not been independently verified.

The Su-35 (NATO code Flanker-E) is Russia's most advanced 4th-generation multirole fighter. Russia entered its full-scale war in February 2022 with around 100 Su-35s and had lost eight in 45 months of fighting by December 2025.

If confirmed, this would be at least the ninth Su-35 loss of the war. Russia's small Su-35 fleet is difficult to replace, as Russian factories ordered 12 Su-35s in 2024 and delivered only 10, according to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

Ukraine has been hitting Russian aviation supply chains as well as aircraft. In 2025, Ukrainian Flamingo cruise missiles struck the Skif-M facility in Belgorod with four cruise missiles, all four confirmed hits by satellite imagery. Skif-M supplies specialized tooling — drills, cutters, and inserts — used to machine the advanced alloys and composites in Su-35 and Su-57 production.

Su-35 program has been rebuilt twice since 1990s

The Su-35 traces back to a Sukhoi Design Bureau program that further evolved the Su-27, according to ArmyInform. The prototype T-10M-1 first flew on 28 June 1988, and the first serial aircraft flew on 1 April 1992. Twelve prototypes were produced in the early 1990s before the program was suspended in favor of the Su-37.

Russia restarted Su-35 development in 2005 with the updated designation Su-35BM. The serial variant currently in service with Russia's Aerospace Forces is the Su-35S.

Ukraine's aerial exchange has intensified

The claim lands during a period of intense aerial exchange. Ukraine lost three MiG-29 fighters on 27 June, with one shot down in the air and two destroyed on the ground at Voznesensk airfield. Ukrainian drones damaged at least seven Russian warplanes at the Saky airbase in occupied Crimea on 2-3 July, per acting Security Service Head Yevhenii Khmara.

Russia struck Kyiv on 2 July with nearly 500 drones and 77 missiles, killing at least 30 people. Zelenskyy told the NATO Defense Industry Forum in Ankara on 7 July that current Patriot production is not enough to meet the growing demand for protection against ballistic missiles, per ABC News. 

According to reports on G7 summit discussions, Donald Trump expressed admiration for Ukraine’s long-range strikes against Russia and advised Kyiv to act more boldly. “For the first time since early 2023, the momentum in the Russo-Ukrainian war is on Kyiv’s side,” US Under Secretary of State for Foreign Assistance, Humanitarian Affairs, and Religious Freedom Jeremy Lewin said on 24 June.

Ukrainian forces are on the offensive while Russia appears to be in a holding pattern, Lewin said. “This is a crucial moment; Ukraine can keep applying pressure on the battlefield.”

Ukraine’s Armed Forces commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi offered a far more sober assessment in an interview with The Times on 26 June. “I cannot say unequivocally that the war is nearing a turning point. We hope there will come a moment when the enemy mobilizes all its forces, resources and efforts, after which exhaustion will set in, and a turning point may follow,” Syrskyi said.

Two qualified but widely different assessments of the situation on the battlefield

Both reflexes distort the picture. When the battlefield disfavour Ukraine, the reporting declares it doomed; when it moves the other way, Russia is being crushed. Neither holds.

What the trends below show—drawn from four years of Ukrainian General Staff daily reports—is more specific: Russia’s losses have become unsustainable in the war it set out to fight, which is precisely why it abandoned maneuver warfare for attrition.

Attrition, however, is survivable for both sides, because both are kept in the fight by their partners—Russia by China, Ukraine by the collective West minus the United States. Unless fundamentally reconfigured, changing the military balance on the battlefield, this is why the war will continue, and why Ukraine’s present success, as Syrskyi warns, may prove temporary.

Russia’s losses have become unsustainable in the war it set out to fight

To fully understand the status, situation reports alone are insufficient. One also needs to study trends. The following analysis is based on a synopsis of the daily reports from the Ukrainian General Staff, providing detailed insight into Russian losses and casualties.

A note on the figures: annual totals for 2026 are full-year projections based on the trends through the first half of the year, while cumulative “to date” figures are actuals as of June 2026. The two are therefore not directly comparable—the projected annual totals run higher than the running totals.

Personnel

Russia has lost more than 1.4 million soldiers since the full-scale war started, including both wounded and killed in action. The numbers have varied from year to year:

In June, Russia suffered its highest losses since March 2025: about 39,300, of which potentially 26,200 were killed in action. Why?

Today, up to 90% of Russian casualties are caused by FPV drones with unrivalled precision.

Russia launched a staggering 301,000 FPV drones against Ukrainian positions this month. Ukraine, however, is launching 50% more. “Ukraine maintains a 1.5-to-1 numerical advantage over Russia in FPV drones and is outpacing Russian recruitment into drone units by 12,500 personnel since January,” according to commander-in-chief General Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Additionally, Ukraine is scaling up its ground robotic capacity, an area with possibly significantly greater combat potential. In May alone, the Ukrainian Armed Forces executed 12,500 missions, indicative of a rapidly scaling capability.

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The frontline is replaced by a “kill zone”

This is why Russia is finding it increasingly difficult to recruit new soldiers. According to CNN, military recruitment was down by 20% in the first quarter of this year compared to 2025, and there are signs it is still faltering, according to Russian economy expert Janis Kluge. In Moscow, the number of people willing to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry and go to war against Ukraine fell by one-third in the spring. The same pattern is emerging in the regions.

In an interview with The Times, Syrskyi said that Russian losses during the first half of 2026 for the first time exceeded the number of recruits to the occupying army.

Analysts say the Kremlin is resorting to increasingly desperate measures to shore up its forces, and President Putin will likely be forced to make more unpopular decisions this year if he wants to continue the full-scale war against Ukraine.

The problem is that Russia is not the only party struggling to recruit soldiers for frontline duty. Despite fighting for its survival, Ukraine is also struggling to recruit enough soldiers.

Heavy weapons

At the start of the full-scale war, artillery, main battle tanks (MBT), armored fighting vehicles (AFV) and multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) were Russia’s preferred offensive tools.

That is no longer the case in Ukraine. Against a less qualified opponent like NATO, the picture remains more nuanced.

From a doctrinal perspective, artillery has been one of the defining features of Russian and Soviet military thought for over a century. It is not simply another combat arm—it has traditionally been regarded as the primary means of destroying enemy forces, with infantry and armor often maneuvering to exploit the effects created by artillery.

At the start of the full-scale war, artillery inflicted about 80% of the casualties. It has been overtaken by FPV drones, which have transformed the traditional 1:3 KIA/WIA ratio into a horrific 2:1 ratio as of 2026. Equally important, Ukraine has long hunted what used to be Russia’s main weapons. The number of artillery pieces destroyed and damaged has grown persistently from day one of the war: 2022: 2,016 — 2023: 6,448 — 2024: 13,009 — 2025: 14,105 and, if present trends continue, 2026: 18,770.

Artillery is still relevant on the battlefield, not least when weather makes FPV drone operations impossible. But it is today, by far, less crucial than only two years ago.

Russia has lost 1,901 MLRS to date; 598 of which have been confirmed.

Russian losses of MLRS are following the same trajectory as that of its artillery: it is escalating. 2022: 423 — 2023: 519 — 2024: 319 — 2025: 327 and, if present trends continue, 2026: 629—nearly as many as the last two years combined.

Russia has lost 12,066 MBT to date; 4,394 of which have been confirmed.

It has nearly emptied its strategic storages of old tanks to replace losses on the battlefield. Still, the losses have declined year by year since the peak in 2024, when industrialized-scale FPV drone production started: 2022: 3,029 — 2023: 2,948 — 2024: 3,678 — 2025: 1,813 and, if present trends continue, 2026: 1,180.

Despite the enormous losses, the Russian tank force is actually bigger than it was pre-war. Russia is losing fewer MBTs because it no longer fields them in numbers.

Main battle tanks are less relevant on a drone-saturated battlefield like Ukraine’s. That is why they are being spared for future conflicts against a NATO that still lacks Russia’s and Ukraine’s drone capabilities. NATO is not technologically behind—in many areas it possesses more advanced aerospace, sensor, networking, and AI capabilities than Russia. The gap lies in combat experience, doctrinal adaptation, and the ability to field inexpensive drones at massive scale.

Almost none of Russia’s newly produced tanks are being sent to Ukraine; instead they are being stockpiled in Russia for “later use.”

According to ISW, the planned production increase indicates that Russia plans for military contingencies beyond the current war against Ukraine, on the backdrop of its “Phase Zero” operations against Europe, and that Moscow seeks to project power against NATO.

Russia has lost 24,845 AFVs to date; 9,641 of which have been confirmed.

The trend follows the same trajectory as the Russian MBT: Ukraine is destroying fewer AFVs because Russia is fielding fewer on the battlefield. The losses have declined year by year since the peak in 2024: 2022: 6,075 — 2023: 5,005 — 2024: 8,951 — 2025: 3,787 and, if present trends continue, 2026: 2,000.

Russia has not run out of AFVs. Rather, it has reached a point where AFVs have become the limiting factor for force expansion and mechanized operations. Russia continues to produce and refurbish vehicles, but not fast enough to fully equip its expanding army or replace losses with modern equipment.

As a result, Russian soldiers are forced either to use unarmored vehicles—civilian cars, ATVs and motorcycles—or to walk through the kill zone to attack Ukrainian defensive positions.

Reports indicate that 60% to 70% of Russian soldiers are killed or wounded before ever reaching Ukrainian lines or firing a shot during unarmored or dismounted “meat assault” tactics.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies concluded that Russian territorial gains throughout 2024–2025 came at exceptionally high material cost. The Russian rate of advance in 2026 has been the lowest since the start of the war. During the spring, it lost more territory than it gained.

Russia has lost its ability to conduct maneuver warfare and to secure a mechanized breakthrough and the subsequent collapse of the frontline. Its ability to defeat Ukraine is therefore no longer linked to territorial conquest, but to its ability to destroy Ukraine through attrition warfare across all domains.

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Air defense

Russia produces some of the most formidable air defence systems in the world and fields them in large numbers. Before the full-scale invasion, Russia had as many air defense systems as all NATO countries combined, according to estimates by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Russia is believed to have possessed about 2,000 to 2,500 ground-based air-defence systems.

But it has since suffered enormous losses.

To put it in context: NATO has identified Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) as a top priority for the Alliance’s survival and deterrence and has called for a 400% increase in air and missile defense capabilities across member states to counter the evolving threat from Russia.

In October 2024, NATO’s “minimum capability requirements” suggested increasing the number of ground-based air defense systems from 293 to 1,467.

Russia has lost nearly as many air defense systems as NATO is planning to procure: a staggering 1,454.

There is no authoritative public estimate of Russia’s annual production of complete ground-based air defense systems (launchers/vehicles), but open-source intelligence, industry analysis, and expert assessments allow a reasonable estimate.

Russia is probably producing around 80–160 new launcher vehicles per year—not nearly enough to replace the air defense systems destroyed by Ukrainian strikes. Additionally, Russian air defense interceptors are currently being fired faster than they can be produced.

If everything continues as it is now, the situation for them should become extremely critical by the fall. That said, Ukraine’s efforts to destroy Russia’s air defense capability escalated in 2023 already, and not in the last year as some claim. From 2022 until the end of 2025, Ukraine destroyed 212, 411, 399 and 235 air defense systems respectively. If present trends persist, Ukraine will destroy an additional 380 systems in 2026.

The fluctuation in numbers destroyed reflects in part that Russia fields fewer air defense systems because of Ukrainian strikes, but also tactics. They have started hiding to avoid being destroyed. The effect is the same: Russian air defense is reluctant to perform its main task out of fear of being struck.

Ukraine notably intensified its strikes, primarily with drones, against Russian ground-based air defenses and radars in late 2025. According to a recent analysis by the international open-source intelligence collective Tochnyi, Ukraine executed over 492 strikes on air-defense infrastructure between June 2025 and early March 2026, alongside hundreds more targeting A2AD (anti-access/area-denial) assets—the wider systems that support air defense, such as electronic warfare, command systems and missile units.

To date, at least 23–25 dedicated air-warning/air-surveillance radar losses have been confirmed destroyed, which means the real losses are higher.

Russian forces also lack sufficient Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft to maintain surveillance and detect low-flying missiles. Ukrainian forces have struck Russian AWACS aircraft throughout the war, contributing to shortages, ISW reports. Russia reportedly has fewer than ten operational A-50 AWACS aircraft as of 1 June 2025, of which only four or five are the modernized A-50U variant.

The campaign has enabled increasingly more long- and medium-range Ukrainian missile and drone strikes against Russian military bases, command-and-control networks, defense industry, logistical hubs and—not least—its ground lines of communication.

Ukraine’s deep-strike capability has increased immensely since the start of the full-scale war. More importantly, it will continue to increase as Russia’s air defense network is slowly taken apart.

This is why Ukraine is about to cut the land bridge between mainland Russia and Crimea, isolating and starving the occupation forces in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts. It is also the reason Ukrainian strikes have turned the Crimean Peninsula from what Moscow once cast as the “jewel of the empire” and Putin’s “historic achievement” into a strategic burden.

Missiles and medium- to long-range UAVs

In February, I published the article “Russia’s war is getting cheaper. That’s the worst news Europe has heard in years.” Building on statistical trends over the last four years—based on reports from the Ukrainian General Staff—the article outlined the strategic shift on the battlefield: from expensive heavy armor to cheap mass drones, from maneuver warfare to attrition, from soldiers to robotics.

The numbers are staggering.

In January 2025, Russia launched 2,330 FPV drones per day at Ukrainian positions. In June 2026: more than 10,000. If the trend holds, Russia will launch 3.8 million FPV drones this year—up more than 300% in less than 1.5 years. Its Unmanned Systems Forces now number 87,000 troops, with plans to raise new brigades and 96 battalions this year.

Long-range strike drones tell the same story. Russia launched 11,200 in 2024, then 54,500 in 2025. Projections for 2026: 96,700. At current intercept rates, nearly 10,000 will hit targets—energy infrastructure, rail networks, hospitals, schools.

Guided glide bombs surged from tens per day to nearly 240, with range growing from 60–80 km to over 150 km. Russia is developing variants reaching 400 km—putting more Ukrainian cities in range of indiscriminate bombing. It is using about twice as many guided glide bombs this year as in 2025. Despite Ukrainian strikes against Russian combat aircraft on the ground, Russia has increased the number of sorties flown by 15% over the last two months.

Conclusion

In the February article, I stressed that this is not a war for territory. It is a war about Ukraine’s right to exist. In the Russian world, Ukraine does not exist.

Sovereignty is not defined by territorial integrity alone. It encompasses the state’s monopoly on legitimate force, political self-determination, security autonomy, economic independence, and information sovereignty. Russia’s stated demands—“demilitarization,” “denazification,” neutrality, and territorial concessions—collectively amount to something far more far-reaching than a border adjustment. If accepted, they would strip Ukraine of the ability to defend itself, choose its own leaders, join Western institutions, or resist future coercion.

The strategic shift from heavy weapons and maneuver warfare to drone warfare and attrition means Russia’s ability to sustain this war improves while Ukrainian devastation increases.

This is not a war for territory. It is a war about Ukraine’s right to exist. In the Russian world, Ukraine does not exist.

Ukraine’s ability to execute deep- and medium-range strikes against Russia has improved tremendously this year. In April 2026, French analyst Clement Molin claimed Ukraine had already overtaken Russia in deep-strike drone attacks. While many called that report overly optimistic, it can be stated with certainty that over the past year the number of successful and large-scale Ukrainian attacks has increased dozens of times and become almost a daily occurrence.

More crucially, the Ukrainian capability is likely to continue to increase, inflicting ever more pain on the aggressor. It might even help force Russia to withdraw from Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, turn the Crimean Peninsula into an island and, ultimately, help liberate Crimea.

During a briefing on 11 June, General Syrskyi described a drone-warfare ecosystem in which Ukraine holds a quantitative advantage in FPV systems, a qualitative advantage in interceptor capabilities, and a structural advantage in the attrition of Russian drone-operator personnel.

Ukraine has built its unmanned-systems capacity faster than Russia can build a counter.

Syrskyi’s closing note, however, was a warning against complacency. Russia is studying Ukraine’s methods and adapting. The advantage Ukraine holds today is not permanent—it must be maintained through continued production, innovation, and the same accelerated development cycle that produced the current position. “The results achieved must not lead to relaxation,” Ukraine’s Armed Forces commander-in-chief stressed.

In order to set the Ukrainian strike campaign into proper context: Ukraine is today doing what Russia has been doing for more than four years already, without breaking the spirit of the Ukrainian population.

Ukraine has survived because it is supported by the collective West (minus the United States). Russia is being supported by the world’s second-largest economy, China—and by all the other states that do not support the West’s attempt to isolate the aggressor.

Europe’s efforts are being undermined by the world’s largest economy.

The bottom line is that the war of attrition is likely to continue, potentially indefinitely, as long as Russia is being supported by China—or until Russia attacks a NATO member state, with the silent consent of China.

My main message, therefore, remains the same as before: this war can only be ended by fundamentally changing the military balance on the battlefield—a military intervention by a Coalition of Like-Minded Countries (CALM).

Russia has lost 1,028,610 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on July 8.

The number includes 1,070 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,995 tanks, 22,967 armored fighting vehicles, 54,456 vehicles and fuel tanks, 30,034 artillery systems, 1,434 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,192 air defense systems, 421 airplanes, 340 helicopters, 44,230 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

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If Beijing moves against Taiwan, NATO might soon find itself in a two-front war with China and Russia — or so the alliance’s secretary general believes. “If Xi Jinping would attack Taiwan, he would first make sure that he makes a call to his very junior partner in all of this, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin… and telling him, ‘Hey, I’m going to do this, and I need you to to keep them busy in Europe by attacking NATO territory,’” Secretary General Mark Rutte said in a July 5 interview with the New

The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek

Major shutdowns at Russia's key airports on July 5–6 caused by Ukrainian drone attacks could cost Russian airlines around 20 billion rubles ($254 million), the pro-Kremlin outlet Kommersant reported on July 7, citing airline representatives and industry experts.

Since the start of mass disruptions on July 5, a total of 485 flights were canceled, 88 were diverted to alternate airports, and another 1,900 were delayed across major hubs, according to Russia's aviation agency Rosaviatsiya.

The drone attacks prompted operational shutdowns that triggered widespread logistical and economic consequences. Over 94,000 passengers were housed in hotels, 43,000 refunds were processed, and hundreds of thousands of vouchers for food and drinks were issued.

The estimated financial toll includes direct airline losses from canceled Boeing 737-800 flights, which can run between 15 million and 23 million rubles ($190,000–$292,000) each depending on the route, as well as costs for delays, diversions, and passenger care.

Experts say the true cost could be far higher. Dmitry Datsykov of EXPO.UAV estimated tens of billions of rubles in additional indirect losses, including missed connections, taxi and hotel losses, and supply chain disruptions.

Ukraine has not publicly claimed responsibility for the disruptions but has acknowledged that its drone strategy aims to undermine Russian logistics and force the war's consequences closer to the Russian public.

The economic fallout comes amid growing scrutiny of Russia's transport sector. On July 7, President Vladimir Putin dismissed Transport Minister Roman Starovoit following the aviation chaos and a high-profile ammonia leak at the Ust-Luga port.

The Kremlin has increasingly struggled to protect critical infrastructure from Kyiv's deep-strike drone campaign, which in recent months has expanded to include refineries, radar plants, and now Russia's busiest airports.

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The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy

Russia has lost 1,027,540 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on July 7.

The number includes 1,100 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,995 tanks, 22,963 armored fighting vehicles, 54,370 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,993 artillery systems, 1,432 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,192 air defense systems, 421 airplanes, 340 helicopters, 44,058 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Ukraine war latest: Drones attack Russia’s Black Sea Fleet; Russian pipelines explode in country’s Far East, HUR says

Key developments on July 5-6: * Drones reportedly attack Russia’s Black Sea fleet * Pipelines supplying Russian military explode in Russia’s Far East, HUR source says * Ukrainian drone strike on Russian airfield hits bomb depot, aircraft * Ukraine hits Russian electronic warfare facility making Shahed, Iskander components, General Staff says * Ukraine’s army chief warns of new Russian offensives in northeast as he visits Kharkiv Oblast front Drones attacked Russia’s Black Sea Fleet at the

The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

Russia has lost 1,026,440 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on July 6.

The number includes 1,180 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,992 tanks, 22,956 armored fighting vehicles, 54,252 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,960 artillery systems, 1,430 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,192 air defense systems, 421 airplanes, 340 helicopters, 43,825 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Ukraine’s artillery braces for shell shortage as US halts aid

The Kyiv Independent’s Francis Farrell and Olena Zashko spent a day with an artillery crew from the 28th Mechanized Brigade in the front-line city of Kostiantynivka. Following the recent decision by the Pentagon to halt shipments of certain weapons to Ukraine, a looming shell shortage is once again on the horizon for Ukrainian forces.

The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell

Russia has lost 1,025,260 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on July 5.

The number includes 1,050 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,990 tanks, 22,953 armored fighting vehicles, 54,148 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,921 artillery systems, 1,428 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,191 air defense systems, 420 airplanes, 340 helicopters, 43,609 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Ukraine strikes deep into Russia with drones, targets airfields after record Kyiv barrage

The Russian Defense Ministry reported a total of 42 drones destroyed, with 37 of them intercepted in three regions bordering Ukraine: Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk.

The Kyiv IndependentOlena Goncharova

Russia has lost 1,024,210 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on July 4.

The number includes 1,120 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,988 tanks, 22,946 armored fighting vehicles, 53,999 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,865 artillery systems, 1,428 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,191 air defense systems, 420 airplanes, 340 helicopters, 43,303 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

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Fires broke out across the city as Russia attacked the capital overnight on July 4. At least 19 people have been injured, with 14 of the victims hospitalized.

The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

A deputy commander of Russia's navy has been killed in a Ukrainian strike in Kursk Oblast, a Russian official confirmed on July 3.

Major General Mikhail Yevgenyevich Gudkov was killed alongside his deputy and several other Russian soldiers, Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of Russia's Primorsky Krai, said in a post on social media.

According to Russian milbloggers, 22 people in total were killed as a result of a Ukrainian HIMARS strike in Russia's Kursk Oblast bordering Ukraine. Kyiv has yet to comment on the attack.

Gudkov was appointed deputy commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy in March 2025. Prior to that, he led the 155th Separate Marine Brigade, which has been involved in combat operations against Ukraine.

Ukraine has accused the 155th Separate Marine Brigade of committing numerous war crimes. According to the country's Air Assault Forces, members of the brigade are responsible for executing prisoners of war and humiliating captured Ukrainian soldiers.

Gudkov held the titles of Hero of Russia and Hero of Primorye, Russia's far eastern region where he previously served, Kozhemyako said.

HIMARS, whose prowess became a popular motif of internet memes, was a game-changer for Ukraine when they first arrived in the summer of 2022.

Initially supplied with GMLRS rockets with a range of around 70 kilometers, they allowed Ukraine to target Russian forces on the other side of the front line far more accurately than they had previously.

In the fall of 2023, the U.S. began supplying Kyiv with an older model of ATACMS – fired from HIMARS launchers – with a range of around 165 kilometers, greatly increasing the range that Ukraine could strike within.

Russia's high-ranking military officials have been killed on a regular basis throughout the full-scale invasion — a recent report from BBC Russia identified ten generals 10 generals and 524 lieutenant colonels and colonels.

Ukrainian forces launched a cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast in August 2024, making it the first large-scale invasion of Russian territory by foreign troops since World War II. The move was intended to disrupt a planned Russian offensive targeting Ukraine's Sumy Oblast and to relieve pressure on the Donetsk front.

Since then, Ukraine claims it has inflicted 63,402 Russian troop casualties in the oblast, including 25,625 killed and 971 captured. Ukrainian forces also say they have destroyed or damaged over 5,664 pieces of Russian military equipment in the area.

Russia retook most of the lost territory during a renewed offensive in March 2025, supported by North Korean troops.

‘A powerful secondary explosion’ — Ukrainian drones destroy Russian ammunition depot in Donetsk Oblast, SBU says

Unconfirmed videos posted to social media show a fire already burning followed by a large explosion and shockwave.

The Kyiv IndependentChris York

Russia has lost 1,023,090 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on July 3.

The number includes 1,000 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,986 tanks, 22,936 armored fighting vehicles, 53,887 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,815 artillery systems, 1,427 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,191 air defense systems, 420 airplanes, 340 helicopters, 43,098 drones, 3,436 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Arrests, raids, beaten and bloodied suspects — how Russia-Azerbaijan relations have unravelled

Deaths in custody, media offices raided, and beaten and bloodied suspects paraded in court — relations between Russia and Azerbaijan, once considered close, have sharply deteriorated in recent days amid a series of high-profile incidents. The latest tensions erupted over the weekend when Russian law enforcement officers detained over 50 Azerbaijani

The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy

Russia has lost 1,022,090 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on July 2.

The number includes 1,110 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,985 tanks, 22,931 armored fighting vehicles, 53,786 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,794 artillery systems, 1,427 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,191 air defense systems, 420 airplanes, 340 helicopters, 43,013 drones, 3,436 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Ukraine to exit mine ban treaty, citing war demands, realities on the ground

Ukraine looks to withdraw from a major international treaty on anti-personnel landmines to bolster its defense on the battlefield, where its troops are trying to hold off Russia’s intensifying offensive. President Volodymyr Zelensky, on June 29, had requested that Ukraine withdraw from the 1997 Ottawa Treaty that banned the production

The Kyiv IndependentAsami Terajima

Russia has lost 1,020,980 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on July 1.

The number includes 970 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,983 tanks, 22,928 armored fighting vehicles, 53,696 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,754 artillery systems, 1,427 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,190 air defense systems, 420 airplanes, 340 helicopters, 42,940 drones, 3,436 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Warfare in Ukraine has changed… again

The Kyiv Independent’s Francis Farrell explains a new modification of the standard first-person view (FPV) drone that already once transformed the way war is fought. Fiber optic cable now used to connect drone operators to FPVs ensures a perfect image and control experience all the way to the target — and cannot be spotted by enemy drone detectors.

The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell

Russia has lost around 1,020,010 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 30.

The number includes 1,070 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,980 tanks, 22,922 armored fighting vehicles, 53,593 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,718 artillery systems, 1,427 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,190 air defense systems, 420 airplanes, 340 helicopters, 42,796 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Ukrainian drone strike on Crimea air base destroys 3 Russian helicopters, SBU claims

The attack destroyed Mi-8, Mi-26 and Mi-28 attack helicopters, and a Pantsyr-S1 self-propelled anti-aircraft missile and gun system, the Security Service of Ukraine told the Kyiv Independent.

The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Denisova

Russia has lost around 1,018,940 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 29.

The number includes 1,220 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,976 tanks, 22,915 armored fighting vehicles, 53,508 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,689 artillery systems, 1,425 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,189 air defense systems, 420 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 42,624 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Ukrainian drone strike on Crimea air base destroys 3 Russian helicopters, SBU claims

The attack destroyed Mi-8, Mi-26 and Mi-28 attack helicopters, and a Pantsyr-S1 self-propelled anti-aircraft missile and gun system, the Security Service of Ukraine told the Kyiv Independent.

The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Denisova

Russia has lost around 1,017,720 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 28.

The number includes 1,000 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,970 tanks, 22,908 armored fighting vehicles, 53,415 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,665 artillery systems, 1,425 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,189 air defense systems, 420 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 42,477 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Russia has amassed 111,000 troops near Pokrovsk, Syrskyi says

Pokrovsk remains the “hottest spot” along the front line but “the situation is under control” and Russia has not crossed the administrative border from Donetsk to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said.

The Kyiv IndependentAbbey Fenbert

Russia has lost 1,016,720 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 27.

The number includes 970 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,969 tanks, 22,896 armored fighting vehicles, 53,284 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,630 artillery systems, 1,425 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,188 air defense systems, 416 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 42,240 drones, 3,388 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Facing manpower shortage, Ukrainian brigade turns to women in first-ever female recruitment drive

Editor’s note: This article originated as a winning story idea in a vote by members of the Kyiv Independent’s community. Join our community today and join our exclusive members-only Discord channel, where you can discuss and suggest stories, ask our journalists questions, and more. “Her strength is her

The Kyiv IndependentNatalia Yermak

Russia has lost 1,015,750 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 26.

The number includes 1,100 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,968 tanks, 22,892 armored fighting vehicles, 53,195 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,617 artillery systems, 1,425 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,188 air defense systems, 416 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 42,153 drones, 3,388 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Ukraine war latest: US signals more Patriot missiles for Kyiv after Zelensky-Trump talks at NATO summit

Key developments on June 25: * Zelensky, Trump hold talks on NATO summit sidelines * ‘Something unknown’ hits key Russian drone facility in Taganrog, Ukrainian official says * Russia has launched over 28,000 Shahed drones at Ukraine since 2022, with nearly 10% fired in June alone, Zelensky says * Donetsk Oblast city “on

The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

Russia has lost 1,013,700 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 24.

The number includes 1,200 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,966 tanks, 22,879 armored fighting vehicles, 52,961 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,511 artillery systems, 1,424 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,188 air defense systems, 416 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 41,915 drones, 3,388 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Zelensky, Starmer hail ‘massive step forward’ in military cooperation

During a joint visit to a U.K. military training site for Ukrainian personnel, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he and Zelensky held “an excellent bilateral meeting” and had agreed to an “industrial military co-production agreement.”

The Kyiv IndependentOlena Goncharova

Russia has lost around 1,012,500 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 23.

The number includes 1,010 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,965 tanks, 22,872 armored fighting vehicles, 52,861 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,490 artillery systems, 1,423 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,188 air defense systems, 416 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 41,717 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Russia’s mass missile, drone attack on Kyiv kills 5, injures at least 19

Russia launched a wave of missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and surrounding region overnight on June 23.

The Kyiv IndependentLucy Pakhnyuk

Russia has lost 1,011,490 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 22.

The number includes 1,100 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,964 tanks, 22,867 armored fighting vehicles, 52,734 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,432 artillery systems, 1,421 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,188 air defense systems, 416 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 41,579 drones, 3,376 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Russia pulls its scientists out of Iranian nuclear plant, as Israeli strikes threaten decades of collaboration

Israel’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities have alarmed none more than Russia, the country that first brought nuclear power to Iran in defiance of Western objections. We’re “millimeters from catastrophe,” said Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on June 18 in response to a bombing campaign that Israel launched against

The Kyiv IndependentKollen Post

Russia has lost 1,010,390 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 21.

The number includes 1,060 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,955 tanks, 22,865 armored fighting vehicles, 52,617 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,393 artillery systems, 1,421 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,188 air defense systems, 416 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 41,422 drones, 3,369 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Russia pulls its scientists out of Iranian nuclear plant, as Israeli strikes threaten decades of collaboration

Israel’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities have alarmed none more than Russia, the country that first brought nuclear power to Iran in defiance of Western objections. We’re “millimeters from catastrophe,” said Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on June 18 in response to a bombing campaign that Israel launched against

The Kyiv IndependentKollen Post

Russia has lost 1,009,330 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 20.

The number includes 1,090 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,954 tanks, 22,860 armored fighting vehicles, 52,501 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,374 artillery systems, 1,421 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,188 air defense systems, 416 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 41,299 drones, 3,369 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Russian losses ‘entirely justified,’ Zelensky says

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 19 that he held talks with the SBU about deep strikes in Russia. “Russia must continue to suffer entirely justified losses due to its aggression.”

The Kyiv IndependentAbbey Fenbert

Ukraine should continue to inflict "entirely justified" losses on Russia in the face of escalating aggression, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on June 19.

His remarks come two days after Russia launched one of its deadliest assaults on Kyiv, attacking the capital with ballistic missiles and hundreds of drones on June 17 in a nine-hour attack that killed 30 people and injured 172 others.

"There was no military sense in this strike; it added absolutely nothing to Russia in military terms," Zelensky said, refuting Moscow's claims that the attack targeted Ukraine's "military-industrial complex."

The president described Russia's attack — which struck residential buildings, student dorms, and a kindergarten — as "deliberate terror."

Zelensky urged Western partners to mount economic pressure on Russia and said he was working on new proposals for coordinated sanctions. He also said he held meetings with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to discuss deep strikes in Russia.

"Russia must continue to suffer entirely justified losses due to its aggression," he said.

While Russia has intensified its campaign of aerial terror against Ukrainian cities, Kyiv has stepped up its efforts to reduce Russia's military capabilities, launching successful strikes on airfields, weapons factories, and oil refineries.

The most audacious of these attacks was the large-scale Operation Spiderweb, a coordinated drone strike on four key Russian military airfields on June 1. According to the SBU, the operation damaged 41 Russian warplanes, including heavy bombers and rare A-50 spy planes.

Since March, Ukraine has repeatedly offered to declare an unconditional ceasefire if Russia agrees to the same terms. The Kremlin has resisted at every turn. U.S. President Donald Trump's attempts to broker a peace deal have led to continued escalation and more civilian deaths.

With Western support eroding and no ceasefire in sight, Ukraine continues grasping for leverage against Moscow — including by developing its own long-range weapons. Kyiv has developed several weapons capable of deep strikes in Russian territory, such as the Palianytsia and Peklo (Hell) missile-drone hybrids.

Ukraine has proven its ability to strike targets far from the border. A June 15 attack reportedly hit a drone factory in Russia's Tatarstan, around 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from Ukraine.

Russia also continues to suffer staggering troop losses on the front lines. Earlier on June 19, Russian Ambassador to the U.K. Andrey Kelin accidentally admitted that Moscow is rapidly losing personnel in Ukraine during an interview with CNN.

According to figures from Kyiv, Russia has suffered more than 1 million dead, wounded, and missing soldiers since the start of its full-scale invasion.

Ukraine war latest: Russia accidentally admits to its staggering troop losses in Ukraine

Key developments on June 19: * Russia accidentally admits to its staggering troop losses in Ukraine * Ukraine, Russia carry out another POW exchange under Istanbul deal * North Korea considers sending 25,000 workers to Russia to help produce Shahed drones, media reports * Zelensky appoints Brigadier General Shapovalov as new Ground Forces

The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

Russia has lost 1,008,240 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 19.

The number includes 1,080 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,951 tanks, 22,853 armored fighting vehicles, 52,420 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,328 artillery systems, 1,420 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,187 air defense systems, 416 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 41,229 drones, 3,369 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Russia’s deadliest attack on Kyiv this year shatters homes and lives

As Russia intensifies its attacks on Ukrainian cities, millions of Kyiv residents go to bed every night hoping their houses will be intact in the morning. But some nights are worse than others. At least 28 people were killed in Russia’s drone and missile attack on Ukraine’s capital

The Kyiv IndependentNick Allard

Russia has lost 1,007,160 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 18.

The number includes 1,040 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,947 tanks, 22,845 armored fighting vehicles, 52,312 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,265 artillery systems, 1,420 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,187 air defense systems, 416 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 41,165 drones, 3,369 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Kellogg to meet Lukashenko in highest-ranking US visit to Belarus in years, Reuters reports

U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg will meet Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in the coming days, Reuters reported on June 17, citing four sources familiar with the matter.

The Kyiv IndependentVolodymyr Ivanyshyn

Russia has lost 1,005,060 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 16.

The number includes 1,200 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,939 tanks, 22,811 armored fighting vehicles, 52,096 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,208 artillery systems, 1,418 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,187 air defense systems, 416 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 40,804 drones, 3,337 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

With no new US aid packages on the horizon, can Ukraine continue to fight Russia?

The U.S. has not announced any military aid packages for Ukraine in almost five months, pushing Kyiv to seek new alternatives. But time is running out quickly as Russian troops slowly advance on the eastern front line and gear up for a new summer offensive. “While Ukraine’s dependence on

The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Hodunova

North Korea has suffered more than 6,000 casualties during offensive operations in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, according to a June 15 report from the United Kingdom’s defense intelligence.

According to the report, North Korea's losses account for more than half of the approximately 11,000 troops initially deployed to Kursk in fall 2024.

U.K. intelligence attributed the high casualty rate to large, highly attritional dismounted assaults.

Open source intelligence reports have also suggested that small numbers of additional North Korea troops have been deployed to make up for the losses.

Earlier this year, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that North Korea transferred approximately 3,000 additional soldiers to Russia in January and February.

North Korea has emerged as a key military ally of Russia through its invasion of Ukraine, supplying Moscow with artillery shells, missiles, and even soldiers in exchange for oil products and advanced military technology, such as ballistic missile upgrades.

In April 2025, Russia confirmed for the first time that North Korean forces were fighting alongside Russian troops in Kursk, although North Korean troops have been reportedly involved since fall 2024.

Ukraine launched a cross-border incursion into Kursk Oblast in August 2024, marking the first large-scale invasion of Russian territory by foreign forces since World War II. The operation aimed to disrupt a planned Russian offensive on the neighboring Sumy Oblast and draw Russian forces away from the embattled Donbas region.

Russia launched a push to recapture the region in early March 2025, with Ukraine being forced to pull back from much of the initially taken territory.

Ukraine war latest: Ukrainian MiG-29 strikes Russian drone hub, ammo depot in Zaporizhzhia direction, releases video

Key developments on June 13: * Ukrainian MiG-29 strikes Russian drone hub, ammo depot in Zaporizhzhia direction, releases video * Ukrainian military denies NYT claims about Russian presence in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast * Russia preparing strategic reserves for conflicts beyond Ukraine, Ukraine warns * Ukraine repatriates bodies of 1,200 citizens, soldiers under Istanbul deal

The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

Russia has lost 1,003,860 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 15.

The number includes 1,170 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,937 tanks, 22,804 armored fighting vehicles, 52,017 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,190 artillery systems, 1,418 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,186 air defense systems, 416 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 40,709 drones, 3,337 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

From buffer zone to new front: Russia pushes deeper into Sumy Oblast

In March 2025, as Ukrainian forces made their final retreat from Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, new grey spots began to appear on open-source maps on the other side of the state border, in Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast. For the first time since 2022, when Moscow’s forces retreated

The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell

Russia has lost 1,002,690 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 14.

The number includes 1,130 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,937 tanks, 22,798 armored fighting vehicles, 51,928 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,157 artillery systems, 1,417 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,185 air defense systems, 416 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 40,586 drones, 3,337 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

As Russian losses in Ukraine hit 1 million, Putin’s war economy heads toward breaking point

Russian losses in Ukraine hit a massive, and grim milestone on June 12 — 1 million Russian soldiers killed or wounded during the 39-month-long full-scale war, according to figures from Kyiv. Although hugely symbolic, the number is unlikely to prompt a change in tactics from Moscow as it gears up for

The Kyiv IndependentChris York

Russia has lost 1,001,560 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on June 13.

The number includes 1,220 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,934 tanks, 22,791 armored fighting vehicles, 51,821 vehicles and fuel tanks, 29,105 artillery systems, 1,416 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,184 air defense systems, 416 airplanes, 337 helicopters, 40,507 drones, 3,337 cruise missiles, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

As Russian losses in Ukraine hit 1 million, Putin’s war economy heads toward breaking point

Russian losses in Ukraine hit a massive, and grim milestone on June 12 — 1 million Russian soldiers killed or wounded during the 39-month-long full-scale war, according to figures from Kyiv. Although hugely symbolic, the number is unlikely to prompt a change in tactics from Moscow as it gears up for

The Kyiv IndependentChris York

Russian independent media outlet Mediazona, in collaboration with the BBC Russian service, has confirmed the identities of 111,387 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine.

The publications' latest report covers the period of February 24, 2022 to June 6, 2025. Since it was last updated at the end of May, 1,762 additional Russian military personnel have been confirmed killed.

The journalists note that the actual figures are likely significantly higher, as their verified information comes from public sources such as obituaries, posts by relatives, memorial community tree-plantings, regional media reports, statements from local authorities, among other sources.

The outlet published the complete list of identified casualties for the first time in February, marking three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to the publication, volunteers manually enter and verify each record to prevent duplicate entries in the database.

The journalists' findings come as Russia surpassed 1 million losses on June 12, marking a symbolic, yet grim milestone in the 3-year-long war. The estimate, which is broadly in-line with estimates made by Western intelligence agencies, likely includes those killed, captured, wounded, and missing.

The confirmed death toll now includes 28,200 volunteers, 17,400 recruited prisoners, and nearly 12,300 mobilized soldiers, according to the media outlets. Over 5,100 officers have also been confirmed to have been killed.

Amid renewed summer offensives in multiple sectors of the front, Russia has steadily gained ground in eastern Ukraine and Kursk Oblast in recent months but at the cost of heavy casualties as well as equipment losses.

Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of the Prisoners of War (POWs) said on June 12 said that more than 100,000 Russian families have contacted a Ukrainian-run initiative in search of information about missing Russian soldiers.

Moscow does not disclose its casualty figures, though a Defense Ministry official let slip in December that the department received 48,000 requests to identify missing soldiers.

As Russian losses in Ukraine hit 1 million, Putin’s war economy heads toward breaking point

Russian losses in Ukraine hit a massive, and grim milestone on June 12 — 1 million Russian soldiers killed or wounded during the 39-month-long full-scale war, according to figures from Kyiv. Although hugely symbolic, the number is unlikely to prompt a change in tactics from Moscow as it gears up for

The Kyiv IndependentChris York

More than 100,000 Russian families have contacted a Ukrainian-run initiative in search of information about missing Russian soldiers, Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of the Prisoners of War (POWs) said on June 12.

The announcement comes as Russia and Ukraine are conducting a series of the most extensive prisoner exchanges since the beginning of the large-scale war in 2022. The latest phase of the exchange occurred on June 12.

The initiative, called "I Want to Find" (Russian: "Хочу найти"), has received 100,324 requests from Russian citizens seeking answers about relatives who vanished while serving in Russia's military, the Coordination Headquarters said.

The actual number of missing Russian troops is believed to be significantly higher. Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has largely concealed the scale of its military losses, forcing many families to search independently, Ukrainian officials said.

In May 2025 alone, the project received a record 12,320 inquiries — the highest monthly figure since the program began in January 2024.

Through the project, families can verify whether their relatives have been captured or killed, which may enable them to pressure Russian authorities to pursue prisoner exchanges. As of June, Ukraine has confirmed 2,415 Russian soldiers held in captivity, with 1,126 of them already exchanged for Ukrainian defenders, the Coordination Headquarters said.

"Many more Russians remain in captivity, but not all families know about the program or have submitted requests," the agency added.

A detailed analysis of the requests revealed that some of Russia's most severely depleted units include the 15th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade (Military Unit 90600), which accounts for 2,277 missing personnel — the highest of any single unit. Of the 20 most-affected units, 17 are motorized rifle brigades, often deployed in Russia's most brutal infantry assaults, commonly referred to as "meat grinder" tactics.

The data also showed that 26% of missing soldiers were under the age of 30. The youngest reported missing was 18, and the oldest was 67.

The project has also uncovered a shift in public sentiment, claiming 75% of those submitting requests said they do not support Russia's war in Ukraine.

According to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russia has lost over 1 million troops since the start of its invasion — a figure reported for the first time on June 12, with 1,140 casualties recorded in just one day. The total reported Russian losses stand at 1,000,340 as of that date.

The Kremlin has not commented on the figures.

As Russian losses in Ukraine hit 1 million, Putin faces an economic time bomb

Russian losses in Ukraine hit a massive, and grim milestone on June 12 — 1 million Russian soldiers killed or wounded during the 39-month-long full-scale war, according to figures from Kyiv. Although hugely symbolic, the number is unlikely to prompt a change in tactics from Moscow as it gears up for

The Kyiv IndependentChris York