Russia loses 156 soldiers for every kilometre occupied on Donetsk front – Zelenskyy

Reported Facts

Observable data points shared across all narratives

•Ukraine’s General Staff has publicly stated that Russian troop losses in Ukraine since February 24, 2022 exceed 1,250,000 personnel, with specific figures reported as 1,252,020 and later 1,254,450.
•Ukrainian military reporting for mid-February 2026 includes a claim that Russia lost approximately 1,250 soldiers in a single 24-hour period.
•President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that Russia loses an average of 156 soldiers for every kilometre of territory it occupies on the Donetsk front.
•UK government or defence assessments, as reported by media, state that Russia’s battlefield losses are increasing its reliance on foreign fighters in the war against Ukraine.
•Russian regional media have reported that two soldiers from Russia’s Volgograd region were killed while participating in what Moscow describes as a military operation.
•Russian outlets have reported that two people were injured in an overnight Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Krasnodar region.
•Russian state-linked commentary has claimed that Ukraine has lost around 2,000 foreign mercenaries and elite forces personnel in fighting near Gulyaipole.
•Regional and international outlets continue to publish daily situation summaries describing ongoing combat operations between Russian and Ukrainian forces more than 1,450 days after the full-scale invasion began.

Narrative Split

How different information blocks interpret these facts

Protracted high-intensity attrition war

Middle East–based coverage presents the conflict as a long-running, high-intensity war of attrition with heavy casualties on both sides and regular cross-border strikes. It attributes the continuation of fighting to entrenched strategic objectives in Moscow and Kyiv and sustained external support, rather than to any single offensive. It suggests that absent a political settlement, both Russian and Ukrainian forces will continue to absorb significant losses while the front lines shift only gradually.

•Daily situation reports describe ongoing combat across multiple sectors, indicating that neither side has achieved a decisive breakthrough after more than 1,450 days of war.
•These reports highlight recurring claims of large casualty figures from both Russian and Ukrainian sources without endorsing one side’s numbers.
•Cross-border attacks, such as Ukrainian strikes on Russian regions and Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities, are presented as routine features of the current phase of the war.
•The block emphasises that external actors’ military and financial support is a key factor enabling both sides to sustain operations despite high reported losses.
•It frames the conflict as a grinding war of attrition in which incremental territorial changes come at significant human and material cost.

Ukraine suffering heavy elite losses

Russian outlets frame Ukraine and its foreign backers as bearing severe losses, particularly among foreign mercenaries and elite units, while depicting Russian casualties as limited and controlled. They attribute Ukrainian losses to what they describe as reckless offensives and Western-driven escalation, and argue that Ukrainian strikes on Russian regions justify continued Russian operations. They predict that sustained attrition of Ukrainian elite forces and foreign fighters will eventually undermine Kyiv’s ability to continue large-scale resistance.

•Russian commentary claims that Ukraine has lost about 2,000 foreign mercenaries and elite forces personnel in fighting near Gulyaipole, suggesting high-quality manpower depletion on the Ukrainian side.
•Reports of only two soldiers from the Volgograd region killed are used to imply that Russian losses are comparatively modest or at least publicly manageable.

REGIONAL

Russia paying extreme manpower cost

Regional and Ukrainian-aligned sources portray Russia as suffering unsustainable personnel losses for marginal territorial gains, particularly on the Donetsk front. They attribute this to Moscow’s strategy of attritional assaults and political pressure to show advances, and argue that growing reliance on foreign fighters signals structural manpower strain that could weaken Russia’s long-term position. They predict that continued high losses will erode Russian combat effectiveness and create openings for Ukrainian countermeasures if external support is maintained.

•Ukrainian authorities assert that Russia has lost over 1.25 million troops in Ukraine since February 24, 2022, indicating a very high cumulative casualty burden.
•Zelenskyy’s figure of 156 Russian soldiers lost per kilometre in Donetsk is used to argue that Russian advances are achieved at disproportionate human cost.

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