Russia Has Lost More Troops Than The U.S. in WWI, Ukrainian Figures Suggest

Ukraine's armed forces have claimed that almost 117,000 Russian troops have now been killed fighting in Ukraine since Moscow's full-scale invasion began on February 24, which—if true—would mean more Russian dead than American troops died in World War I.

Kyiv's latest casualty report—which Newsweek is unable to independently verify—reported Tuesday that around 870 more Russians had been killed during fighting in Ukraine. This brings the total number of deaths since February 24, when Russia launched its invasion, to 116,950.

If these figures are accurate, Russia has now lost more troops in Ukraine than the U.S. lost during its involvement in World War I. A total of 116,516 Americans died in that war, 53,402 of whom were killed in combat with another 63,114 dying from non-combat causes, largely influenza, while deployed to Europe.

Russian casualties had already surpassed those recorded by the U.S. in the Vietnam War (58,220) and Korean War (36,516) combined.

The Kremlin's incursion into Ukraine—now in its 11th month—had already become the most costly conflict for Russia since World War II.

Ukrainian-reported figures of Russian dead far surpass the combined total of dead recorded in the Soviet Union's invasion and occupation of Afghanistan launched in 1979, the two Chechen wars in the 1990s and 2000s, the Russo-Georgian War of 2008, and Moscow's involvement in the Syrian Civil War.

Russia does not regularly release its own casualty figures. Moscow has so far confirmed the deaths of fewer than 6,000 regular troops, and fewer than 4,000 additional fighters from Russia's puppet so-called "people's republics" in the occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Kremlin also does not include mercenary fighters, such as those of the Wagner Group, in its totals.

The rate of Russian losses appears to have accelerated through the winter, although the front lines have largely stabilized after a series of Ukrainian battlefield victories. Fierce fighting and Russian advances in eastern Donetsk Oblast, particularly around the towns of Bakhmut and Soledar, appear to have been costly for both sides.

In November, Ukraine's armed forces claimed to have "liquidated" 17,060 Russian troops, as well as another 17,080 in December; an average of around 560 Russian service personnel per day throughout both months. Kyiv had claimed to have killed 12,740 Russian troops in October; 11,180 in September; 7,070 in August; 5,230 in July; and 5,100 in June.

Ukrainian armed forces have claimed 10,990 Russian troops have been killed so far in 2023.

Ukraine's claimed figures broadly align with U.S. estimates. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said in November that "well over" 100,000 Russian troops had been killed or wounded in Ukraine.

Ukraine gives little public information about its casualty figures. Kyiv has admitted some 13,000 deaths since February 24. Milley and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have both suggested a total of around 100,000 casualties on the Ukrainian side, though this may be a cumulative figure of killed and wounded for both military and civilians.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry to request comment.

Putin won't blink

Russia's casualty numbers may appear staggering for publics more familiar with the low-intensity, relatively low-casualty anti-insurgency campaigns Western nations have undertaken in recent decades.

But independent analyst Nikolai Petrov told Newsweek that Moscow shows no sign of flinching.

"The war is seen not as an invasion, not as an aggressive war, but as a defensive war," he said. "And it's very important to understand who is blamed for all these losses. So far, it looks like it's the West and partly Ukrainians who are blamed."

"The price and the cost of human life is absolutely different in the West and in Russia," Petrov added. "You would better compare it to the Second World War—to the Great Patriotic War—when Russia and Ukraine, and the Soviet Union in general, did lose a huge number of soldiers.

"But there was no way to expect that these losses could lead to changes in public opinion, to the idea of stopping the war."

Many observers claimed Moscow was hesitant to order its first wave of partial mobilization in 2022, fearing societal unrest and economic damage. Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have fled Russia before mobilization began, low-level anti-government attacks increased, and Putin recorded a slight drop in public support. But the Kremlin faced little organized resistance to the order.

"My expectation was that it could serve as a kind of game changer, but it didn't," Petrov said.

"So far, the government has enjoyed pretty [broad] support. There are no protests, which is understandable given there is no infrastructure, there are no political forces, who could present a very different view," he said. "And if the war is presented by the Kremlin everywhere in the same way, we should not wait for any essential shifts to happen in Russian society."

There are now rumors of an impending second wave of mobilization, while private military contractors including the notorious Wagner Group, are continuing recruitment among veterans, civilians and prisoners.

"I don't think there was the plan to announce a major mobilization, but the plan was to use this partial mobilization and continue if needed," Petrov said of a possible additional wave of conscription.

"So far, the calculation is that Russia is much bigger than Ukraine in terms of the number of potential soldiers, in terms of its industry, in terms of its economy. And that if not winning immediately, Russia can win in a pretty long war of attrition."

"That's why I think it's very dangerous that Ukraine is bleeding," he added. "It's losing huge economic potential, human lives, everything. But their minds are clear in the sense that they are sure that they need to win by all means."

"Nobody compares the cost of keeping the territory or getting back certain parts of the territory immediately, with how much the country is losing. The country is not only the territory, not only the land, but it's the nation, it's the people. And I think we should be much more focused on these."