Key facts
- The General Staff said October's 54,400 Russian casualties exceeded the army's ability to replenish its units.
- The National Guard's 1st Azov Corps estimated it killed, wounded or captured over 6,800 Russian troops on one offensive axis.
- Commander Robert "Magyar" Brovdi said Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces averaged 542 Russian casualties daily in October.
- The General Staff has not disclosed Ukraine's own losses, citing operational secrecy.
- A January 2026 CSIS report estimated 500,000 to 600,000 Ukrainian casualties from February 2022 to December 2025.
- Zelensky told France TV on February 4 that at least 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in action.
Russia's combat losses in October 2026 reached 54,400 soldiers, the highest of any month since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on October 31. The figure was 8,170 higher than the previous month and includes troops killed, wounded and missing in action.
The General Staff said the rate of loss "exceeds the enemy's ability to replenish its units," adding that "every month of the war is costing the Russian army more and more." It put total Russian losses since the invasion began on February 24, 2022, at 1,590,270 troops, including 2,100 casualties in the past day.
The National Guard's 1st Azov Corps said a significant share of Moscow's losses stemmed from Russia's offensive toward the city of Dobropillia in Donetsk Oblast, describing the area as one of the key axes of the Russian offensive. The Corps estimated it had killed, wounded or captured over 6,800 Russian troops.
October was also a record month for Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, commander Robert "Magyar" Brovdi wrote on social media. Brovdi said his forces hit a Russian soldier every 159 seconds in October, averaging 542 casualties daily.
The General Staff has not disclosed Ukraine's own losses, citing operational secrecy. A January 2026 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated Ukraine likely suffered between 500,000 and 600,000 casualties from February 2022 to December 2025, of which between 100,000 and 140,000 were thought to have been killed in action. CSIS put the Russian-to-Ukrainian casualty ratio at roughly 2.5:1 or 2:1.
President Volodymyr Zelensky told France TV on February 4 that at least 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in action since the invasion began. Moscow announced plans on October 2 to conscript an additional 120,000 people.