The Russian army’s casualties in July reached a record high for the entire war
2 August 20:17
Russian troops suffered 42,860 casualties—killed and wounded—in July 2026, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This is the highest monthly figure since the start of the war, indicating a steady increase in Russian losses since February 2026, when they were estimated at 26,090, according to ISW analysts, as reported by "Komersant Ukrainian".
On July 31, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that since February 2022, Russia has lost nearly 700,000 military personnel killed in action, and the total losses of the Russian Armed Forces have approached 1.6 million.
At the same time, despite record losses, the pace of the Russian offensive remains extremely slow. According to ISW estimates, in July, Russian troops were able to advance only 37.85 square kilometers into Ukrainian territory—an area smaller than Manhattan, which averages out to 1.22 square kilometers per day.
If we include areas where Russian units merely managed to breach Ukrainian defenses, the total area of captured territory under their fire control amounted to approximately 121.56 square kilometers. By comparison: in July 2025, the Russian army captured 455.74 square kilometers. Thus, even taking into account the tactics of localized breakthroughs, the current pace of the offensive only slightly exceeds the figures from February 2026, which preceded the spring-summer offensive that began in mid-March, analysts note.
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According to ISW estimates, the ratio of losses to gains is becoming less favorable for Russia. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, in July, Russian troops lost an average of 353 personnel for every square kilometer of territory they were able to advance into or penetrate, and 1,132 personnel for every square kilometer fully captured.
Analysts note that the Russian army is paying an increasingly high price for its virtually unchanged rate of advance, despite the Kremlin’s attempts to portray the situation differently through propaganda. At the same time, the ISW sees no signs that Russian forces will be able to sharply accelerate their advance or regain the capacity for large-scale maneuver operations in the near future.
Against this backdrop, the Kremlin is intensifying its information campaign, seeking to portray the offensive as more successful than it actually is.
For example, on July 31, the Russian Ministry of Defense and the TASS propaganda agency released figures—which the Institute assesses as exaggerated—regarding the number of settlements allegedly captured by Russian forces in July. However, even these official statements do not indicate a pace of advance sufficient to break through Ukrainian defenses and occupy the territories that Moscow planned to seize by the end of 2026, writes the ISW.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) had previously presented similar conclusions. In a study published on July 1, analysts estimated the Russian army’s total losses from the start of the full-scale war through June 2026 at approximately 1.4 million personnel. According to CSIS, in the first half of 2026, Russia lost between 30,000 and 34,000 military personnel each month, which exceeded the rate of recruitment of new contract soldiers.
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