U.K. Defense Ministry: Russian military casualties in last six weeks likely among war’s highest

In the last six weeks, Russian forces have likely experienced the highest casualty rate since the start of the war, according to a daily intelligence update posted by the U.K. Defense Ministry, based on data from the Ukrainian General Staff.

The ministry specifies that they can’t verify the methodology, but “taken as a total including both killed and wounded, the figures are plausible.”

According to this information, Russian casualties averaged 931 per day in November 2023, which is likely the highest casualty rate since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Prior to this, March 2023 was “the deadliest month” for Russia, when Russian troops advancing on the city of Bakhmut lost an average of 776 people per day.

“The last six weeks have likely seen some of the highest Russian casualty rates of the war so far. The heavy losses have largely been caused by Russia’s offensive against the Donbas town of Avdiivka,” reads the update.