Russian losses in Ukraine reached record high in October, UK defense minister says

Russian forces in Ukraine suffered their deadliest month since the start of the full-scale invasion, the U.K.'s defense minister said in an interview published Nov. 8.

Speaking to The Telegraph, John Healey said that Moscow's troops suffered 41,980 killed and wounded during October, according to British defense intelligence figures.

This works out at an average of 1,354 every day.

British defense intelligence estimates Russia has likely suffered more than 696,000 losses since the start of the full-scale invasion, a figure in line with Ukraine's current total figure of 707,540 reported on Nov. 9.

The daily figure reported by Kyiv was 1,660, the second highest of the war.

The previous second highest was 1,630 reported on Oct. 25, which surpassed the previous record of 1,530, which was set just a week earlier.

The bloodiest day for Moscow's forces was on May 13, when they suffered a reported 1,740 casualties.

While Russian forces are suffering record losses, they're also making increasingly swift gains in the east of Ukraine.

According to a Bloomberg analysis published on Nov. 1, Ukraine has lost 1,146 square kilometers of its own territory since the launch of the Kursk Oblast incursion in early August, with the week up until Nov. 1 reported as the worst in terms of lost territory in all of 2024.

On Nov. 2, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Ukraine was facing “one of the most powerful” Russian offensives since the start of the all out war.

Over autumn, large chunks of Ukrainian territory, sometimes including entire cities, have been lost on a near-daily basis in southern Donetsk Oblast, while Russian forces have also made operationally significant gains near Toretsk, Chasiv Yar, Kupiansk, as well as on their own soil in Kursk Oblast.

Despite the grim situation, Healey told the Telegraph that Russia's momentum isn't unstoppable.

When asked if Ukraine with the support of its Western allies can win the war, he replied: "The West can and must."