Russia Loses Over 1,000 Troops on First Day of 2025

Russian forces have begun 2025 with another day of high losses, according to Ukraine's Defense Ministry.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment by email.

This illustrative image from September 30, 2024, shows Ukrainian troops firing an AHS Krab self-propelled howitzer near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region. Ukraine's figures showed continued high Russian losses going into 2025. GENYA SAVILOV/Getty Images

Why It Matters

Moscow continues to face significant casualty numbers amid Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion, according to Ukraine's daily updates, especially in the eastern part of the front where Russia is making gradual gains.

The Kremlin insists that its forces are being replenished, but such high losses may be difficult for Russia to sustain because of their military and economic effects, making them a possible factor in leverage for talks to end the war.

What To Know

Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that over the previous day, Russia had 1,370 casualties, which consisted of both dead and injured personnel.

The ministry announced the losses on X, formerly Twitter, and quoted the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke in the post: "The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible."

Ukraine's estimate of the total Russian losses since the full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022, is now 792,170.

It is difficult to determine the exact tally of casualties in the war, as Kyiv's estimates are often higher than those from other sources, and neither side typically discloses its losses.

Russia has not updated its tally since September 2022, when it said just under 6,000 troops had died. In a rare admission, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in December that 43,000 troops fighting for Kyiv had been killed and 370,000 injuries were reported, though this included those injured more than once.

Ukraine's New Year's Day tally said Russia had lost 430,790 troops in 2024, a significant rise from its estimate of 253,290 for the previous year.

Assessing a lower annual tally of 420,000 Russian losses, the Institute for the Study of War estimated that for each of the 4,168 square kilometers (1,609 square miles) of Ukrainian territory it had seized, Moscow had about 102 casualties.

What People Are Saying

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine's commander in chief, wrote on Telegram on December 30: "The enemy continues to carry out continuous meat assaults, suffering record losses. Thus, in the last week, the invaders have been losing about 1,700 people killed and wounded every day, and in total this year this figure is already 427,000."

What Happens Next

As the full-scale invasion approaches its third anniversary, anticipation is building over whether a peace agreement or an end to hostilities is in sight.

In his New Year's address, Zelensky said the United States would stand with Kyiv and that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump would be "capable of achieving peace and ending Putin's aggression."

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently rejected proposals floated by Trump's allies to end the war, which include postponing Kyiv's NATO hopes and stationing European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine.