Russia Has Lost 1.2 Million Troops in Ukraine—More Than Its Entire Pre-War Army

In early 2022, just before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the size of the Russian armed forces was estimated at between 900,000 and slightly over 1 million active-duty troops, excluding reservists.

By the end of 2025, Russia’s total military losses in Ukraine will reach 1.2 million. In less than four years, the Kremlin has effectively destroyed its own army—entirely—and rebuilt it from scratch, even expanding it to a new force of 1.5 million active personnel.

Russia’s military casualty rate

The scale of Russian casualties in the war it started is staggering—and they continue to grow year over year:

• 2022 — 105,960

• 2023 — 359,230 (+250,000)

• 2024 — 789,550 (+430,000)

• 2025 — 1.2 million (+410,000)

These totals include both those killed and severely wounded who will never return to combat—hence the classification as “irrecoverable losses.” Sources within Ukraine’s General Staff told UNITED24 Media that the proportion of killed Russian soldiers is rising each year. Early in the war, more troops were wounded than killed. That trend has now reversed.

The Kremlin shows no concern for its military losses. Several key battles illustrate the scale:

• In the Battle for Bakhmut, the Wagner Group was virtually annihilated, with tens of thousands of its fighters killed.

• In the Battle for Avdiivka, Ukrainian forces eliminated 40,000 Russian troops.

• The fight for the small town of Chasiv Yar has dragged on for 18 months. Russia has failed to capture it and lost nearly 12,000 troops in the process.

Another grim example is Andriivka, a tiny village in the Donetsk region. Over two years of trying to seize it, Russian forces lost 427 soldiers killed or missing, and 798 wounded. In nearby Ozarianivka, 343 were killed and 300 wounded, including 42 officers. In total, Russia lost nearly 900 troops killed and missing, and another 1,226 wounded—amounting to an entire regiment—for just two villages.

These losses are even more striking when compared to the amount of territory Russia has actually managed to seize since 2022:

• 2023 — 530 sq. km gained, 250,000 troops lost (equivalent to the area of Warsaw, Vienna, or Budapest)

• 2024 — 3,600 sq. km gained, 430,000 troops lost (Moscow, by comparison, is 2,500 sq. km)

Russia’s total losses are now equivalent to the entire population of Estonia.

How Russia’s losses compare globally

Despite staggering losses, Russia continues to push forward, relying on relentless infantry assaults. With drones rendering armored vehicles less effective, Russian commanders are knowingly sending soldiers to die, aware they’ll be targeted by FPV drones.

The scale of the losses becomes even more astonishing when placed alongside World War II casualty figures:

• Italy — 242,232

• Hungary — 200,000

• Japan — 1.3 million

• Germany — 4+ million

The key difference: within a year of Hitler’s war in Europe, only the UK continued to resist and refused to surrender.

The only country with greater losses than Russia is the former Soviet Union (8.5 million)—and that comes as little surprise. The brutal tactics used by Stalin during WWII—mass infantry assaults and total disregard for human life—remain embedded in Russia’s military doctrine today, with its meat-grinder assaults.

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