russia likely sustained approximately 415,000 casualties (killed and wounded) in the russia-Ukraine war in 2025, the second highest yearly total since launching the illegal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to the UK Defense Intelligence.
This is a slight decrease from the approximately 430,000 casualties russia sustained in 2024, the highest yearly total. Russia has likely sustained approximately 1,213,000 casualties overall.
Read more: UK Defense Intelligence Analyzes Second Combat Use of Oreshnik IRBM Against Ukraine
The average daily russian casualty rate during December 2025 was 1,130 according to Ukraine's General Staff reporting, an increase from 1,030 in November 2025, and the fourth consecutive monthly increase. Russia's average daily casualty rates from August 2025 to December 2025 were the five lowest monthly average rates reported since April 2024.
Russia's monthly casualty rate has risen again in conjunction with increasing advances across the frontline. Russia will highly likely continue to experience high casualty rates over January 2026 with continued dismounted infantry attacks on multiple axes.
As Defense Express previously reported, russia's illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022 has now lasted longer than the Soviet Union's war against Nazi Germany, which followed Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, thereby breaking Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union's non-aggression pact.
Ethnic Ukrainians constituted a significant proportion of the Soviet Union's Red Army in the Second World War.
Read more: UK Defense Intelligence: russia's War Against Ukraine Now Lasts Longer Than the USSR's Fight Against Nazi Germany
