Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The Kremlin’s manpower bill in Ukraine keeps climbing at a pace that has broken every previous wartime record.
In the war’s fifth year, Russia’s running casualty toll is closing in on a figure larger than the standing armies of most European nations. The latest climb follows the deadliest month Moscow has recorded on the battlefield since February 2022.
Russia’s cumulative military losses in Ukraine reached approximately 1,599,390 personnel as of November 5, 2026, after Ukraine’s General Staff reported another 2,380 troops killed or wounded over the previous 24 hours, Ukrinform reported.
The count sits roughly 610 soldiers short of the 1.6 million mark.
The figure counts soldiers killed in action, captured as prisoners of war, or wounded badly enough that they cannot return to combat, the Kyiv Independent explains, citing Ukraine’s General Staff.
October broke every monthly record
Russia suffered its heaviest monthly losses of the war in October 2026, with 54,400 troops killed or seriously wounded, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on November 1.
A new single-day record was set on October 21, when about 2,250 Russian soldiers were reported killed or seriously wounded, United24 Media reported.
That one-day record held for less than two weeks. On November 1, Ukraine’s General Staff logged 2,500 Russian losses in 24 hours, the highest daily figure since the invasion began.
Early November has stayed well above October’s average daily pace of roughly 1,750 losses. Ukraine’s General Staff logged 2,060 Russian losses on November 3 and 2,380 on November 5, keeping the monthly trajectory in line with October’s record.
Russian equipment losses on November 5 included 23 artillery systems, two multiple-launch rocket systems, five air defense systems, and 1,163 operational-tactical drones, Ukrinform reported.
A Ukrainian count, with Western analysts broadly in line
The figures are the Ukrainian military’s own counts and are not independently verified. Ukraine’s General Staff also does not publish its own losses, citing operational secrecy.
Western analysts have broadly accepted that Russian losses greatly exceed Ukraine’s. The Center for Strategic and International Studies puts the casualty ratio at roughly 2.5 to 1 or 2 to 1 in Ukraine’s favor in a report published in the beginning of 2026.
At the current daily pace, Ukraine’s General Staff is expected to post the figure that crosses the 1.6 million line in its next bulletin.
