Russia just suffered one of its costliest days in recent months

Russia recently experienced one of the costliest days of fighting that its armed forces have suffered in months according to troop and equipment loss figures reported by the Ukrainian General Staff. 

Russia reportedly suffered 1,500 military personnel casualties in the 24-hour period between the Ukrainian General Staff’s September 21st war update on Russian losses and its September 22nd report. 

Total Russian military personnel losses as of September 22nd were reported to have hit 642,420 according to the Ukrainian General Staff. Russia could now reach 650,000 casualties within a matter of days. 

It is important to point out that the Ukrainian General Staff doesn’t differentiate between Russian soldiers who have been killed on the battlefield and those who have just been wounded in the ongoing fighting. 

Newsweek reported that the latest figures released by Ukraine showed a major uptick in casualties as fighting on the eastern front lines and in Russia’s Kursk region continued. 

The loss of so many soldiers in a single day marked “one of the highest single-day troop losses since May” according to Newsweek’s Flynn Nicholls. However, Moscow also lost more than just a lot of soldiers. 

The Ukrainian General Staff also reported that Russia lost a significant number of tanks and armored troop-carrying vehicles over the same single 24-hour period that its major military personnel losses occurred. 

Ukraine reportedly destroyed 22 tanks, pushing the total number of Russian tank losses to 8,768, and 52 armored personnel carriers, which pushed Moscow's total number of armored personnel carrier losses up to 17,220. 

“These numbers represent the largest one-day spike in tank and armored vehicle losses reported by Kyiv in several months,” Nicholls noted.

Moscow also lost 63 artillery systems which put the total lost in the war at 18,333, and when combined with the other reported losses, proved to be a significant blow to the Russian Armed Forces.

Russian losses followed a similar pattern prior to September 22nd according to Nicholls, who noted the Ukrainian General Staff’s September 21st report estimated Russia lost 1,440 military personnel, 21 tanks, 38 armored personnel carriers, and 58 artillery systems. 

The Ukrainian General Staff’s September 20th report noted that Russia suffered 1,340 military personnel casualties and lost 20 tanks, 39 armored personnel carriers, and 35 artillery systems. Things didn’t get better for Moscow after its major losses from September 2oth to the 22nd either. 

The Russian Armed Forces lost 1,330 troops in the 24-hour period from the September 22nd Ukrainian General Staff report to the September 23rd report, as well as 16 tanks, 30 armored personnel carriers, and 81 artillery systems. 

“Getting an accurate number of troop losses is difficult as both sides do not release official estimates,” Nicholls wrote about the reported losses. However, there are some indications that the Ukrainian General Staff’s personnel losses may be close to correct. 

On September 5th, the UK Ministry of Defence noted in its daily updates on the war in Ukraine that Russia likely had suffered over 610,000 casualties, and had suffered 1,187 casualties per day in August 2024, which was mostly due to fighting on the eastern front lines and in the Kursk region. 

On the same day that the UK Ministry of Defence update was published, the Ukrainian General Staff reported that total Russian losses as of September 5th had hit 621,550, making the difference in numbers just over 20,000 losses.  

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