The Senior Military Advisor of the UK Delegation to the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) Nicholas Aucott said that Russian casualties in Ukraine had exceeded 465,000 troops, during a speech to the OSCE on 8 May 2024.
A transcript of the speech published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) goes on to state that the number of Russian casualties each day represents an average loss of 899 soldiers per day.
Aucott, in his speech to the OSCE, described the attack on Ukraine and resulting Russian casualties, saying that “not only is this an act of aggression against a sovereign nation, it also is a testament to the contempt in which Putin regards his own people and the lengths to which he is prepared to go.”
A rough ratio in contemporary warfare suggests that for every soldier killed in action, there are a further two-to-three personnel injured, suggesting that between 175 and 200 Russian troops are dying each day.
The casualty rate described by Aucott is lower than the estimated figure of 983 casualties per day reported by Army Technology in February 2023, two years after the full-scale of invasion of Ukraine, with 28,000 casualties over February itself.
February’s estimate also detailed Russian casualties since the full-scale invasion began had Russian losses as totalling to 350,000. The FCDO figure of 465,000 Russian casualties up to May 2024 is nearly 33% higher than previous calculations.
