Russia Loses 470 Soldiers and 31 Artillery Systems in a Day: Ukraine

Russian forces in Ukraine lost 470 troops and 31 artillery systems over the past day, Kyiv's military said on Wednesday as the armies of both countries launched offensives.

Moscow's troops also lost eight combat vehicles and four tanks in the previous 24 hours, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a post to social media.

Kyiv claims in updated figures that Moscow has lost nearly 239,500 soldiers since February 24, 2022, when Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, launched the full-scale invasion of its neighbor to the west.

Ukraine Artillery
Ukrainian soldiers man a BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher to defend against any attack by Russian forces on their positions in the Bakhmut region on July 9, 2023. Russian forces in Ukraine lost 470 fighters... Roman Chop/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

Russia does not keep a running tally of claimed Ukrainian casualties, but Moscow's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine's armed forces had lost 815 troops over the previous day.

It is not possible to independently verify either count, and Newsweek reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian Defense Ministries for comment via email on Wednesday.

The claims come as Kyiv pushes on with its counteroffensive in the south and east of the war-torn country. Ukraine's fighters carried out operations in "at least three sectors of the front line" on Tuesday, the Washington D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War think tank said in its latest analysis.

Russian forces are also ramping up their offensive efforts, the ISW added, as Ukraine's counteroffensive nears the two-month mark.

On Tuesday, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister, Hanna Maliar, said "the initiative is already on our side" around the Kupyansk area in eastern Ukraine, adding Moscow's "offensive in the Kupyansk direction is currently unsuccessful."

Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had advanced "up to 2 kilometers" (1.2 miles) along the front near Kupyansk, without specifying further.

Kyiv's soldiers advanced to the south of the fiercely contested eastern city of Bakhmut on Tuesday, Maliar added. The decimated city has been a focal point of hostilities since the summer of 2022, and has been labeled a "meat grinder" due to the many lives lost on both sides during near-daily battles.

Fighting continued on Bakhmut's northern flank, Maliar said, with Ukraine coming up against mines and "intense enemy fire."

Russian forces are putting up "powerful resistance" in Bakhmut, Ukraine's General Staff said on Wednesday, adding that Moscow was sending reserves to the city and "suffers enormous losses."

There has been an increase in clashes between Russia and Ukraine in southern areas around the Dnieper River, including in the Dnipro delta and on the eastern bank close to the Antonovsky Bridge in the Kherson region, the British Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

"Russia faces a dilemma in deciding whether to respond to these threats by strengthening its Dnipro Group of Forces at the expense of the stretched units facing the Ukrainian counter-offensive in Zaporizhzhia Oblast," the government department said in an update on social media.

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more

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