Russia Hits Grim High in March 2026, Losing 35,351 Troops

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented updated figures at the beginning of April 2026: in March, 35,351 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded. These are confirmed Russian military losses documented on video, and they set a new record—in December 2025, the Kremlin lost 35,000 troops.

In other words, on average, the Russian army was losing 1,140 soldiers killed and wounded every day across all sections of the front. The real losses are even higher, since not every artillery strike or attack on troop concentrations can be precisely identified, just as casualties in small-arms engagements cannot always be fully verified.

Target: 50,000

Ukraine’s major goal for 2026 is to drive Russia’s losses up to 50,000 troops per month. This is not just a striking number, but a concrete calculation: Moscow is keeping the inflow of recruits at 30,000 to 40,000 troops per month.

A steadily deteriorating replenishment curve would eventually leave Russia without enough troops to sustain such a vast front line—more than 1,000 kilometers.

For Ukraine, this is a way to force a ceasefire and bring Moscow to the table to begin negotiations—something Kyiv says it is always ready for.

As of the first quarter of 2026, Zelenskyy said Moscow had recruited around 80,000 Russian troops. Russian losses, however, exceeded 90,000 troops over the same period, indicating a negative trend.

As long as Russia still has military manpower, the Kremlin will remain convinced it has the forces for offensive operations and the ability to continue a war of attrition. For Ukraine, it is important to show the opposite: Moscow has made no territorial gains over the past three months while losing an army the size of a city’s population. Overall, over the past year, the Russian military has lost 400,000 troops; over four years of war, more than 1.2 million.

Drone technology

The strength of the Ukrainian military lies in its professional mastery of drones. Although the head of Rheinmetall, out of ignorance, spoke of “housewives,” 90% of all Russian troops destroyed on the front are being taken out by drones. Ukraine knows how to use unmanned systems better than anyone else.

For example, at the beginning of April, Ukraine hit a Russian warship once again—the frigate Admiral Grigorovich, a carrier of Kalibr missiles. That same night, the port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea was struck yet again, while Ust-Luga in northern Russia also came under attack once more.

In March 2026, Ukraine carried out more drone strikes than Russia did, according to estimates by the OSINT community. This happened for the first time throughout Russia’s full-scale war. Over the course of the month, 274 air defense systems were struck, and Ukrainian drones flew more than 1,500 kilometers to hit oil refineries and military facilities.

Today, drones are one of the tools helping Ukraine keep from falling behind Russia technologically in this war. And it is an experience the country is ready to share with others.

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