Russian Casualties Have Increased 30 Percent In Past Few Days, Mostly At Avdiivka

Friday, Russia suffered its second worst day of casualties since the war started. The worst day was three weeks ago, also at Avdiivka. JL

Brendan Cole reports in Newsweek:

Russian forces have suffered their second highest daily losses of troops since the start of their full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Friday (as)  over the previous day, Russia lost 1,130 soldiers. This is the highest daily estimate since October 19, when Russia lost 1,380 troops and the second time in three days that its tally had been more than 1,000. Kyiv's forces had repelled 35 Russian attacks on Avdiivka and nearby settlements as Moscow's casualty rates had increased by almost 30% compared with previous days.

Russian forces have suffered one of their highest daily losses of troops since the start of their full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Kyiv.

Forces fighting for Vladimir Putin have faced a spike in casualties and equipment losses since they launched an offensive at the start of October for Avdiivka. This is an industrial hub in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, which has long been a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.

 

In its update on Saturday, Ukraine's General Staff said that, over the previous day, Russia has lost 1,130 soldiers, taking the total number of losses over the 20 months of the war to 310,650. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

This is the highest daily estimate by Kyiv since October 19, when it said that Russia had lost 1,380 troops and the second time in three days that its tally had been more than 1,000. Newsweek couldn't independently verify the figures. Estimates of casualty numbers vary, with Kyiv's figures usually exceeding those of its Western allies.

The death toll given by Ukraine of Russian troop losses has gradually increased from between 300 and 600 a day since early July to between 600 and 1,000 soldiers since the start of October. Earlier this month, Kyiv announced that Russian losses had surpassed 300,000. Newsweek has as yet been unable to verify the figures independently.

A precise figure of Russian losses is hard to come by and Ukraine's figure is higher than other estimates. The investigation outlet Mediazona has worked with the BBC News Russian service and, drawing on publicly accessible sources, have said that, as of November 3, 35,780 Russian soldiers had been killed. The outlets added that the actual number of deaths is likely much higher.

They had previously said that, by the end of May 2023, 47,000 Russian soldiers had been killed. Russia has not updated its tally since September 2022 when defense minister Sergei Shoigu said 5,937 Russian troops had been killed.

 

At the end of October, British defense officials said Russian losses totaled up to 190,000 personnel, including those killed and permanently injured. This figure did not include soldiers from Wagner Group of mercenaries, who died in their thousands during the fight for Bakhmut.

At the time, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said that the battle over Avdiivka was behind the rise in Russian losses, which is in keeping with an assessment by the Ukrainian army's Tavria group spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun on Saturday.

He told Ukrainian television that Kyiv's forces had repelled 35 Russian attacks on Avdiivka and nearby settlements. He said that, in the Tavria group's area of responsibility, Moscow's casualty rates had increased by almost 30 percent compared with previous days.

 

"The enemy became more active in the Avdiivka direction," Shtupun said, according to the Kyiv Independent, "in addition to infantry, it uses a significant amount of armored vehicles."