Russia is continuing to lose high numbers of equipment in Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, according to Kyiv's latest figures, which outlined a significant milestone in destroyed and captured artillery.
The Ukrainian defense ministry said on Tuesday that over the previous 24 hours, Russian forces had lost 49 pieces of artillery, taking the total losses for the equipment since the start of the war on February 24, 2022, to just over 15,000. Just over a week into July, Kyiv's estimate of Russian artillery losses is already 416, which is on track to beat the monthly record of 1,415 from June.
In the first year of the war, artillery losses hovered at around 200 per month, but there has been a spike in these numbers, particularly over the last nine months, and monthly tallies of over 700 have been common.
May's figure of 1,160 saw the tally exceed four figures for the first time—well clear of the previous highest of 947 in September 2023. Kyiv's highest tally of artillery losses for a day so far is 89 on May 3, 2024.
Newsweek contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.
For comparison, the tracker website Oryx, which uses verifiable imagery as evidence and says the real number is "significantly higher," counted losses of towed artillery of 380 as of Tuesday. This consisted of 228 pieces being destroyed, 52 damaged, five abandoned and 95 captured.
Oryx also said that Russia had faced self-propelled artillery losses of 779, of which 621 were destroyed, 45 damaged: five abandoned and 108 captured.
Russia's daily troop losses also continue to be high, according to Kyiv, which said on Tuesday had reached 553,410 following casualties of 1,220 the previous day. Ukraine's estimate of casualties includes those injured and killed.
Last week, independent Russian media outlets Mediazona and Meduza gave "flash estimates" of Russian deaths by analyzing databases of inheritance cases and comparing the trends with mortality data from Russia's State Statistics Service, the Russian Probate Registry and obituaries.
Using these criteria, the project said that as of the end of June, around 120,000 Russian troops had been killed in the war, although the real number may be as high as 140,000.
A separate count by Mediazona and BBC News Russian drawing on publicly available information such as obituaries, social media posts and regional media reports found that the number of Russian troops killed was 58,207.
Russia hasn't updated its official figures of just under 6,000 troop losses in September 2022.
Neither Kyiv nor Moscow releases detailed casualty numbers, although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in February 2024 that 31,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed.
Last month, Putin claimed that Ukraine had lost five times as many troops as Russia, without providing proof. The claim runs counter to Ukrainian and U.S. battlefield estimates that Moscow has suffered many more casualties than Kyiv.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular ... Read more
