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During 2025, the Russian monthly losses has more than doubled, according to Zelenskiy.
In 1979, the Soviet Union joined the Afghan military in fighting the rebellious Afghan mujahideen in Afghanistan.
More than nine years later, in early 1989, the Soviet Union left Afghanistan, having lost approximately 15,000 soldiers during the fighting.
For decades, the Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan stood as a cautionary tale about the human cost of prolonged conflict.
Fast forward to December 2025. The war in Ukraine rages on, nearing the four-year mark, and Russian casualties are staggering.
In fact, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Russian invaders lost more than twice that number of troops in December 2025 alone.
Technology race
Zelenskyy spoke on Monday at the launch of an initiative reviewing the performance of Ukrainian unmanned drone units. He said that modern warfare now depends “on who is the fastest and strongest in applying technologies, in changing technologies,” according to Euromaidan Press.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine had emerged as a global leader in unmanned warfare, with most drones now produced domestically.
Announcing the Russian losses for December 2025, Zelenskyy drew the comparison to the Cold War era:
“During the ten years of war in Afghanistan, the Soviet army lost half of this number,” he said, highlighting the scale of losses in a single month.
According to him, Ukrainian drone units struck more than 800,000 Russian targets during 2025.
Russian losses more than doubled in a year
At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Zelenskyy said reported Russian monthly casualties had risen from about 14,000 to 35,000 over the past year.
He added that while Russia mobilizes around 40,000 to 43,000 troops each month, losses now reach up to 45,000, with 10–15% deserting and others wounded.
British Ministry of Defence assessments broadly align with those claims. In November 2025, the ministry said Russia had suffered around 382,000 casualties since the start of that year, averaging roughly 34,700 per month. A separate update published Monday estimated about 1,225,000 Russian soldiers killed or seriously injured since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Despite the losses, territorial changes have been limited. DeepState, a Ukrainian open-source battlefield mapping project, reported that Russia captured less than 1% of Ukraine’s territory in 2025.
Sources: DeepState, Euromaidan Press, World Economic Forum 2026
