Russian forces have suffered 145,000 casualties since the start of 2026, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday, including nearly 86,000 killed, at least 59,000 seriously wounded, and more than 800 taken prisoner.
The numbers came directly from Zelenskyy, who shared the total on Telegram after receiving a battlefield update from Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces. “Since the beginning of 2026, Russian losses on the front have already amounted to more than 145,000 personnel,” Zelenskyy wrote.
The figures represent a rapid acceleration. Syrskyi had reported more than 141,500 Russian personnel losses and more than 83,000 killed just two days earlier, on May 20, during a briefing to NATO allies at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, implying that Russian forces sustained roughly 3,500 additional casualties in 48 hours.
Ukraine’s General Staff reported total Russian combat losses from the full-scale invasion, which began Feb. 24, 2022, at approximately 1,352,980 personnel as of May 21. Single-day losses on May 20 alone reached 910 troops and 1,715 drones, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
The casualty figures coincide with what Syrskyi described as a fundamental shift in battlefield dynamics. Ukrainian offensive assaults now outnumber Russian assaults, a development he called a first in the war’s history. Syrskyi told Militarnyi magazine that Ukraine has seized the tactical initiative, crediting what he called “active defense tactics” that allow Ukrainian forces to “wear down the enemy, regain ground, and inflict maximum losses.”
The Institute for the Study of War assessed that Ukrainian forces have achieved their largest territorial gains since the August 2024 Kursk incursion, across multiple frontline sectors in recent months.
The mounting losses come as Russia attempts to signal strength elsewhere. Moscow has delivered additional nuclear weapons to Belarus and staged highly publicized joint war games there, a move that Al Jazeera and Ukrainian officials characterized as escalation theater as Russia’s ground campaign falters.
The broader toll of the war underscores the pace of attrition. A January 2026 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies put total Russian casualties since the full-scale invasion at nearly 1.2 million, with approximately 325,000 fatalities, roughly twice Ukraine’s losses. CSIS estimated a loss ratio of 2.5-to-1 in Ukraine’s favor and projected that combined casualties from both sides could reach 2 million by spring 2026.
Zelenskyy also confirmed on Thursday that Ukraine struck Russian oil infrastructure, including a refinery in Yaroslavl approximately 500 miles from Ukrainian territory, using long-range drones.
Russia has not confirmed the casualty figures, and independent verification of battlefield losses from either side remains limited.
