U.S. intelligence says 315K Russian troops killed or injured in Ukraine

Approximately 315,000 Russian troops are estimated to have been killed or injured during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to news outlets Reuters and CNN, who referenced a declassified U.S. intelligence report. This constitutes 87% of the Russian Defense Ministry’s total personnel at the start of the invasion.

The outlet’s source, who is familiar with the intelligence, says that the Kremlin’s personnel and armored vehicle losses have set back Russia’s military modernization by 18 years.

According to U.S. intelligence, Russia’s Defense Ministry started the full-scale invasion of Ukraine with 360,000 troops. Russia also reportedly lost 2,200 tanks out of the 3,500 it possessed at the beginning of the invasion. A further 4,400 out of 13,600 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers were lost, the intelligence says.

Earlier, the U.S. National Security Council reported that 13,000 soldiers from the Russian army were either killed or injured, and more than 220 armored vehicles were damaged, in October and November 2023, during the battle of Avdiivka.

Russian officials say that Western estimates about the number of Russian casualties in the war are greatly exaggerated.