Troop casualties in Ukraine war near 1.4 million, study finds

WASHINGTON — Nearly 1 million Russian troops have been killed or wounded in the country’s war against Ukraine, according to a new study, a staggering toll as Russia’s three-year assault on its neighbor grinds on.

The study, published Tuesday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that close to 400,000 Ukrainian troops have also been killed or wounded since the war began. That would put the overall casualty figure, for Russian and Ukrainian troops combined, at almost 1.4 million.

Officials cautioned that casualty figures were difficult to estimate because Russia is believed to routinely undercount its war dead and injured, and Ukraine does not disclose official figures. The study published Tuesday relied on casualty figures compiled by U.S. and British government estimates.

The figures present an overall accounting of Russia’s slow progress in Ukraine, with Russia proceeding in some places at about 165 feet a day, slower than even the bogged-down and costly Somme advance of British and French troops in World War I. Since January 2024, Russia has seized less than 1% of Ukrainian territory, according to CSIS, even as it continues to advance in the country. Overall, Russia occupies about 20% of Ukraine.

The center put the number of Russian troop deaths at close to 250,000 since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion in February 2022.

The study said that between 60,000 and 100,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed.

Russians outnumber Ukrainians on the battlefield almost 3 to 1, and Russia has a larger population from which to replenish its ranks. Ukraine is losing a larger share of its smaller army. More than 400,000 Russians are believed to be facing about 250,000 Ukrainians on the front line, military analysts say.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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