Russia’s battlefield losses hit record high, says Ukraine – as it prepares for impact of Trump presidency
Share:
Russia is fighting a war of attrition in Ukraine, suffering heavy losses for incremental gains. 150,000 of Vladimir Putin’s troops were killed in 2024, the Ukrainian military chief has said, as the countries prepare for a new era of the war after Donald Trump re-enters the White House.
![[Ukrainians in the 24 Separate Mechanized Brigade fire howitzer artillery towards Russian forces near the town Chasiv Yar, in the Donetsk region]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/20/11/2194301848.jpg)
A record 434,000 casualties, including the wounded, were suffered last year taking total Russian casualties to 819,000, claimed Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. “This year of combat has cost them more than the previous two years of the war combined,” Mr Syrskyi told Ukrainian TV channel TSN.
![[Mr Trump has previously claimed he could end the war in 25 hours]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/15/10/GettyImages-2173926330.jpg)
Russia has gained ground in eastern Ukraine over the past year, but at the cost of heavy casualties as it throws waves of soldiers at Ukraine’s defensive lines. Moscow’s Defence Ministry claimed on Monday that Russian troops had taken control of the eastern Ukrainian villages of Shevchenko and Novoiehorivka. Shevchenko is just south of the city of Pokrovsk, a strategic supply route for Ukraine which Russian troops have been advancing towards for months. The battlefield reports have not been independently verified at the time of writing.
A leading war monitor said on Monday that Russia is recruiting unskilled men and women to boost its manpower on the frontline - a crucial element of Russia’s war of attrition. “Russian volunteer military detachments continue efforts to boost manpower by recruiting women into the Russian Armed Forces,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said. Army units are “recruiting specialists and unskilled men and women from across Russia to participate in combat operations in Ukraine”, it added.
