Russia suffering 102 casualties for every square km as losses continue to mount

More than a hundred Russian troops were killed or injured for every square kilometre of Ukraine they seized last year, according to Ukrainian commanders.

Reports say casualty rates last month reached more than 1,700 a day - the highest rate of the war.

You only have to scan social media to find evidence of just how many Russian troops are dying in Ukraine.

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Across platforms like Telegram, dozens of gruesome videos emerge each day showing soldiers being killed by drones, artillery and in gun battles.

The UK Ministry of Defence said last month that it expects Russian casualties in Ukraine to reach a million within the next six months.

What began as a special military operation that would be over quickly has stretched to more than 1,000 days of war and, according to Ukraine, nearly 800,000 casualties for Russia.

Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, has revealed how costly Kyiv believes Vladimir Putin's invasion has become.

He stated that in exchange for 4,168 sq km of conquered land across Ukraine and Kursk Oblast in 2024, Russia took 427,000 casualties – that's equal to 102 casualties for every square kilometre taken.

December saw Moscow suffer record losses, with Russian forces only managing to seize less than 600 sq km of Ukrainian territory, averaging around 18 every day and down from around 27 in November.

These figures have not been verified.

But the casualties Russia is suffering raise questions as to whether its war in Ukraine is sustainable, with gains often insignificant.

On Christmas Eve, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev claimed 440,000 Russians had signed military contracts.

If true, that means the Kremlin has just about enough new recruits to cover its high losses one-for-one.

There is evidence that Russia's intensive operations are slowing slightly, with commanders turning their attention away from Pokrovsk towards the border area of Donetsk Oblast.

One of Vladimir Putin's stated aims has been to take the whole of the Donetsk region and it's likely commanders are trying to accomplish that before Donald Trump is sworn in as US President later this month.

An influential US think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), reports despite the large swathes of territory seized by Russia, none are particularly operationally significant. 

Russian forces aren't threatening any of Ukraine's key defensive positions and haven't launched any offensive which threatens the Ukrainian army's rear areas.

Based on that, ISW predicts Russia would need to capture around 8,500 sq km - double what it's taken - to seize the whole of Donetsk Oblast.

At their current rate of advance, and assuming Ukraine doesn't launch some sort of counter-offensive, it would take Russian forces two years to accomplish that goal. 

This would undoubtedly see thousands more Russian soldiers die or suffer life-changing injuries on the battlefields of Ukraine. 

It is unknown how high Ukraine's casualty rate is. However, last year Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that 43,000 troops had been lost since the invasion began.

Many suspect the figure to be much higher.