The Russian Army has lost in Ukraine 6 times more killed than the USA in Korea 0 9

The combined losses of Russia and Ukraine over nearly four years of hostilities amounted to 1.8 million people and may reach 2 million by spring 2026. This is stated in a report by the American Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The report is almost entirely dedicated to analyzing the military and economic state of Russia (concluding that it is in a dire condition) and hardly touches on Ukraine. CSIS claims that the losses of the Russian Armed Forces since February 2022 have amounted to 1.2 million people, including 325,000 killed. In 2025, Russia allegedly lost an average of about 35,000 people per month. CSIS does not specify what it bases its estimates on, but the last figure resonates with the one mentioned by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the World Economic Forum in Davos. On January 22, he stated that in December, the Russian Armed Forces lost exactly 35,000 soldiers.

CSIS describes Russian losses as "extraordinary" and claims they exceed the losses of any other country since World War II. For comparison, it cites the United States, which lost 54,487 people in the Korean War, 47,434 people in Vietnam, 149 people during the Gulf War, 2,465 people in Afghanistan, and 4,432 people in Iraq. According to CSIS calculations, Russia's losses since February 2022 are 17 times greater than Soviet losses in Afghanistan and 11 times greater than losses during both Chechen campaigns, as well as 5 times greater than the number of deaths in all conflicts involving Moscow since 1945.

The Kremlin stated that the information from CSIS cannot be considered reliable, and only the Russian Ministry of Defense is authorized to report on losses. Neither Moscow nor Kyiv regularly publishes relevant data.

CSIS, meanwhile, claims that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have lost "significantly" fewer people — between 500,000 and 600,000 killed, wounded, and missing. Of these, the number of dead is allegedly "only" 100,000 — 140,000. However, in December, Ukrainian MP and former Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmytro Razumkov, reported that during the conflict, the AFU lost about 500,000 people just killed and approximately the same number wounded. He cited data from the Rada's Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence. Russian media, in turn, estimates Ukrainian losses at 1.5 million people, including 510,000 killed.

As stated on the CSIS website, the center was founded at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1962 "at the height of the Cold War" for the "simple but urgent purpose of finding ways for the United States to survive as a nation and thrive as a people." In 2019, the University of Pennsylvania recognized CSIS as the best think tank in the United States.

"We are guided by a special set of values: impartiality, independent thinking, innovation, interdisciplinary research, integrity and professionalism, as well as talent development. The values of CSIS work in concert to achieve the goal — to have a real impact on the world," the center's website states.