According to ISW data, the aggressor country Russia lost over 420 thousand soldiers advancing through the territory of Ukraine and the Kursk region in 2024. What is important to understand is that the enemy captured only 4,168 square kilometers of territory, which mostly consists of fields and small settlements.
Points of attention
- The advance of Russian troops slowed in the last month of 2024, but daily losses remained high.
- The record losses of personnel in the Russian army are due to the Kremlin's desire to seize as much territory in Ukraine as possible.
- The active recruitment of new recruits indicates Russia's attempts to replace the record losses of its forces in 2024.
Russia paid a heavy price for the captured territories of Ukraine
The American Institute for the Study of War draws attention to the fact that over the past year, the Russian army lost an average of 102 occupiers for every square kilometer of captured territory.
What is important to understand is that the largest enemy advance was recorded between September and November 2024.
During this time, the aggressor country gained 56.5% of its territorial gains, paying for it with the lives of 125,800 of its soldiers.
Analysts emphasize that the Kremlin dared to suffer record personnel losses from September to November 2024, seeking to capture as much territory as possible.
However, it remains unclear whether the Russian military command will continue to tolerate such losses if the pace of Russian troop advance slows as the occupation forces continue to advance on better-defended settlements, such as Pokrovsk.
The Russian army's offensive has already slowed down
American analysts point out that over the past month, the Russian occupiers have indeed slowed down the pace of their offensive on the battlefield.
It is worth noting that they only gained 593 square kilometers, which is 18.1 square kilometers per day.
Despite this, daily losses of the Russian army remained high. This is an average of about 1,585 people per day, which was the fourth historical maximum for Russia.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said on December 24 that 440,000 new recruits have signed military service contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense in 2024, indicating that Russia is likely recruiting just enough military personnel to replace recent high one-to-one casualty rates, the ISW team warns.
