Daniel Wolfram
The huge loss of lives and land are turning the tide of the war right before winter
When Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine back in 2022, Vladimir Putin expected it to only last a few months.
He did not anticipate that the war would rage on over four years later.
And he certainly did not foresee his military suffering one of the most brutal and bloody months of the war in July of 2026. But that is exactly what happened.
A costly July
Russian military casualties hit a record new high last month. The New York Post reported that Moscow lost 42,860 military personnel who were either killed or wounded during July alone, according to Ukrainian Defense Ministry data.
It marks the highest monthly loss for the Russian military since January 2025. Total Russian casualties since the full-scale 2022 invasion are now rapidly closing in on 1.5 million soldiers.
Moscow faces growing pressure to replace those fallen troops. To fill these expanding gaps, military recruiters have turned to aggressive tactics.
Help from foreign countries
Manpower shortages have driven the Kremlin to seek deeper assistance from foreign allies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in August that Moscow is planning to deploy another 30,000 to 50,000 North Korean troops to make up for all of the casualties.
Those forces are entering a meat grinder and a losing battle. Russian positions in the east and south have begun to buckle under pressure.
Reclaiming lost ground
As Russian forces suffered their most disastrous month in a long time, Ukrainian troops managed to push forward along the southern front line. Satellite images show Kyiv reclaiming nearly 780 square kilometers of land.
Soldiers fighting for Ukraine returned 26 occupied settlements to Ukrainian control during this push. In the southeastern part of Ukraine, military units drove Russian forces back by more than 11 kilometers.
It marks Ukraine’s largest territorial advance in more than a year.
These tactical victories for Ukraine prove that constant pressure and the new drone and defense technologies are working. This is especially important for the upcoming winter, when Russia is known for its devastating strikes and ground push.
