The scale of the reported losses are difficult to comprehend. In 2025, according to the analysis, Russia suffered as many casualties every six weeks as the US lost in the entire 19 years of the Vietnam War.
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But despite this massive human cost, estimated at 1.2 million casualties (those killed, wounded, and missing), the Russian bear has only managed to snap up approximately 12 percent of Ukraine’s landmass between February 2022 and December 2025.Of this total, the CSIS estimated roughly 275,000 to 325,000 Russian soldiers had died since the start of the invasion – the largest number of combat de* fresh report from the Washington think tank paints a different picture to that presented by many who think the war’s outcome is an inevitable Russian victory, it also showed the grim impact it has had on the male fighting age population of Ukraine – where all men over 25 are conscripted into service.
Ukraine, whose population is said to be around five times smaller than Russia’s, has reportedly seen between 500,000 and 600,000 battlefield casualties since the outbreak of the conflict.
Of this total, up to 140,000 are believed to have been killed.
In addition to this revealing analysis about the scale of death taking place on the frontlines in Eastern Europe, the CSIS report also detailed how much land Russia has managed to snap up in 2025, when it deployed North Korean troops, prisoners, and enlisted men from around the world to reinforce its numbers.
Ukrainian conscripts are defending every inch of soil with their lives (Richart Barbeira/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Ukrainian conscripts are defending every inch of soil with their lives (Richart Barbeira/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Unlike in the first days of its invasion of Ukraine and attack on Kharkiv in 2022, when Russian forces were reportedly capturing up to 7,400 meters of territory per day, the rate of advancement since 2024 has ground to almost a halt.
Two of the main focal points for Putin’s army, the areas around Donetsk and Kharkiv, have seen many units paying a blood cost for just meters of land – with the average rate of advancement sitting below 25 yards per day on both fronts.
