Throughout the year, Russian forces suffered around 427,000 casualties. In compensation for their fatalities, the Russian army seized around 1,609 square kilometres of territory in Ukraine and Russia.

2024 was the deadliest so far in the war in Ukraine.Both Russia and Ukraine lost hundreds of thousands of troops who were killed or injured in the war. Russia, in instance, lost over 430,000 troops in a single year. Costly progress The year 2024 will be remembered as the year when the Russian military regained the initiative and implemented its attritional plan. The Russian forces had been on the offensive since January 2024, but it was not until May that the Kremlin revealed its attrition strategy. According to this approach, the Russian military exchanged men for territory. Beginning in May, the Russian military sent hundreds of thousands of troops toward Ukraine’s defensive lines. And, steadily but slowly, Russian forces pushed, seizing strategic fighting positions in southeastern and eastern Ukraine.

The Russian forces made the most of their progress in the fall. According to the Institute for the Study of War’s most recent battle assessment, Russian forces made 56.5 percent of its 2024 territorial gains between September and November 2024. In the final days of 2024, Ukrainian commander-in-chief Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi announced that Russian forces suffered around 427,000 casualties over the year. In compensation for those fatalities, Russian soldiers seized around 1,609 square kilometres of terrain in Ukraine and Russia (the Kursk Oblast salient). These figures correspond to around 267 men killed and wounded per square mile captured. Furthermore, Russian losses average 1,178 a day, with lows in the hundreds and highs of more than 2,000 per day.

In terms of quality, the Russian forces’ conquered land consisted primarily of farm fields and tiny communities. Indeed, Bakhmut is the final significant town taken by Russian forces during the conflict, which occurred in 2023. In terms of losses, the Russian military has been able to recruit just enough men through a variety of channels, including mercenaries, conscripts, and North Korean forces, to maintain its attrition campaign. “Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev claimed on December 24 that 440,000 recruits signed military service contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) in 2024, suggesting that Russia is likely recruiting just enough military personnel to replace its recently high casualty rates one for one,” according to the Institute for the Study of War.added.But whether and for how long the Russian military can maintain such high recruitment levels remains the big question

The Ukrainian Response The Ukrainian military attempted to halt Russian progress by mounting an unexpected operation against Russia itself. In early August, Ukrainian mechanized troops assaulted Kursk Oblast, which borders eastern Ukraine, and made rapid progress. In just a few days, the Ukrainians seized hundreds of square kilometres of territory and scores of communities, causing a schism inside Russia. As a result of the Ukrainian attack, the Russian military was forced to withdraw forces from the war in Ukraine in order to limit the threat within Russia. However, the Ukrainian attack proved to be only a brief distraction for Russia’s troops.