Ukrainian forces lost 593,410 troops over the course of 2024, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Thursday.
The ministry’s weekly briefings over the year indicate that Kiev lost around 4,000 soldiers weekly in early 2024.
By March, this figure increased to 7,000, before it experienced a slight decrease.
In March, Ukrainian forces also attempted to cross the Russian border in the Belgorod and Kursk regions, which resulted in losing around 3,000 more troops, Sputnik calculated on Wednesday.
After that, Kiev’s combat losses started increasing, reaching over 10,000 people per week in late May, after which the number did not go lower than that.
The most significant weekly losses for Kiev’s troops occurred from 26th October to 1st November, with approximately 17,000 Ukrainian fighters being lost.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, Russian air defences downed a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet, as well as six HIMARS rockets and 97 drones, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The statement reads: ‘Air defences shot down an Su-97 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force, six US-made HIMARS rockets and 97 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.’
According to the ministry, a total of 651 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 39,144 unmanned aerial vehicles, 590 missile systems, 20,137 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 1,504 multiple rocket launchers, and 20,134 field artillery mounts and mortars, as well as 29,701 special military motor vehicles, have been destroyed since the start of Russia’s special military operation in February 2022.
Russian troops made more than 1,500 group strikes by high-precision weapons and attack drones against military targets in Ukraine in 2024, according to estimates by the Russian Defence Ministry.
The targets were stationing areas of the Ukrainian army and mercenaries, defence industry facilities and power installations supplying them with power, trains with material, and so on.
At least five mass strikes were also delivered from the beginning of the last year.
- The Ukrainian armed forces launched over 20 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at Russia’s borderline Belgorod region in the past day, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Thursday.
Gladkov stated: ‘Eleven drones were launched at the settlements of Politotdelsky, Razumnoye, Oktyabrsky, Blizhneye, Nikolskoye, Novaya Nelidovka, Solomino, Tavrovo, Cheremoshnoye and Yastrebovo in the Belgorodsky District.
‘Air defences downed eight UAVs.
‘Two households, three cars and a commercial facility suffered damage.’
Four drones attacked the settlements of Volokonovka, Alexandrovka and Tishanka; two of them were shot down.
The attack left two civilians injured, while two cars were damaged.
A fixed-wing drone was downed over the Yakovlevsky Municipal District, with falling debris damaging a house.
As many as 23 projectiles and a drone were launched at the settlements of Gorkovsky, Bezymeno, Kozinka, Novostroyevka Vtoraya, Sankovo and Spodaryushino.
Air defences downed seven fixed-wing drones over the Novooskolsky, Prokhorovsky and Chernyavsky districts.
There were no casualties or damage.
The Ukrainian military also launched six projectiles in three attacks on the town of Shebekino and the settlement of Murom.
Two drone attacks were also carried out with air defences downing one of the UAVs.
Two civilians who had suffered injuries on December 31 came to seek medical care at Shebekino Central Regional Hospital.
A house was damaged in Murom, and a power line was cut off in Shebekino. Emergency teams are working to restore electricity supplies.
The Ukrainian army has lost over 46,460 troops in the Kursk area, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.
‘Since the start of fighting in the Kursk area, the enemy has lost more than 46,460 troops, 262 tanks, 204 infantry fighting vehicles, 143 armoured personnel carriers, 1,381 armoured combat vehicles, 1,280 motor vehicles, and 337 artillery pieces.’
It also lost 42 multiple launch rocket systems, including eleven US-made HIMARS launchers and six MLRS launchers, as well as 13 missile launchers, seven transport-loading vehicles, 83 electronic warfare systems, 13 counterbattery radars, and four air defence radars.
There were also 28 pieces of engineering equipment destroyed, including 13 counter-obstacle vehicles and a UR-77 mine-clearing vehicle, as well as seven armoured repair and recovery vehicles and a command and staff vehicle.
‘The Ukrainian armed forces lost more than 480 troops in the past day. Nine armoured combat vehicles and 21 motor vehicles were destroyed,’ the statement reads.
The Russian Defence Ministry also added that Russian forces repelled six counterattacks by Ukrainian assault teams in the Kursk Region in the past day.
‘The Russian Armed Forces continue their operation to wipe out Ukrainian troops in the Kursk Region.’
Units of Battlegroup North carried out offensive operations, defeating the forces of a heavy mechanised brigade, six mechanised brigades, three air assault brigades, a marine brigade and two territorial defence brigades near Daryino, Zamostye, Kurilovka, Leonidovo, Loknya, Malaya Loknya, Martynovka, Maryevka, Makhnovka, Nikolayevo-Daryino, Novaya Sorochina, Pogrebki, Staraya Sorochina, Sudzha and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye. Six counterattacks by Ukrainian assault teams were repelled.
- The World Health Organisation (WHO) condemned the 30th December Ukrainian drone attack on a hospital in the city of Alyoshki in the Kherson Region, a spokesperson said on Thursday.
The spokesperson stated: ‘The WHO condemns all attacks on health in the strongest possible terms, wherever they happen.
‘The WHO is committed to documenting and investigating attacks on health care through an online surveillance system.
‘Launched in December 2017, the Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care has been used by 21 countries/territories to systematically gather and disseminate data on attacks on health.’
The spokesperson added: ‘We encourage all countries to report attacks on health through this mechanism.
‘On 30th December, the Ukrainian army targeted the chief physician’s office at Alyoskhi Central District Hospital in the Kherson Region.
‘Chief Physician Vladimir Kharlan suffered severe shrapnel wounds, while his deputy Vasily Borisov was killed.’
