In total, around two million soldiers have been killed, injured or reported missing since the war began in February 2022.Image: keystone
Jul 2, 2026, 5:52 amJul 2, 2026, 5:52 am
According to US war experts, the Ukrainian defenders have recently achieved remarkable successes in the defensive battle against Russia and have significantly increased the enemy’s losses. According to a situation report from the Washington-based think tank CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies), in addition to its stuttering ground offensive and occasional gains in ground by the Ukrainians, the Russian army is particularly troubled by the increasing number of casualties in its own ranks.
In total, around two million soldiers have been killed, injured or reported missing since the war began in February 2022, the report says – 1.4 million of them on the Russian side alone. While the ratio between Russian and Ukrainian losses was 2:1 or 3:1 most of the time, it is estimated to have increased to 8:1 in the first half of 2026. The main reason for this is the increased and extremely effective use of Ukrainian combat drones.
CSIS put the total number of Russian casualties at 400,000 to 450,000, while on the Ukrainian side it was 125,000 to 150,000. At the end of January, the total was around 325,000 Russians and 100,000 to 140,000 Ukrainians killed. The monthly number of Russian losses now also exceeds that of new recruits, it said.
Warring parties downplay their own losses
According to CSIS, the figures are based on information from the military, secret services and governments of various countries. The think tank’s information is considered comparatively reliable, but should be viewed with caution given the difficult sources and targeted disinformation from both warring parties – especially since the Ukrainians benefit from weapons and intelligence information from the USA.
While both warring parties report enemy losses on a daily basis, they very rarely disclose their own casualty figures. It is certain that both Russia’s leadership and Ukraine’s leadership downplay their own losses and exaggerate those in the enemy’s ranks. Other estimates do not match the official figures from Moscow and Kyiv.
Slow advances, hardly any terrain gained
In addition to the sharp increase in the number of casualties, Russia’s military is also confronted with other setbacks on the battlefield, according to the CSIS situation report. In the spring of 2026, the attackers would no longer have been able to expand the area they controlled in Ukraine for the first time in years and would have had to accept individual gains in territory by the Ukrainians. Their advances on the front, which is more than a thousand kilometers long, have also become slower. From a historical perspective, the Russians’ combat record in the Ukraine War can be described as miserable compared to that of other major military powers after the Second World War. (sda/dpa)