Russian army continues to suffer heavy losses despite slowing offensive – ISW

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported the information.

On February 3, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced that Russian forces had suffered 48,240 losses — more than three Russian motorized rifle divisions — in January 2025, making it the second-highest month for casualties since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

According to ISW’s geolocated evidence, Russian forces advanced 498 square kilometers in Ukraine and the Kursk region in January, averaging approximately 16.1 square kilometers per day. This means Russian forces suffered about 96 casualties per square kilometer of seized territory.

“The roughly 100-square-kilometer decrease in seized territory between December 2024 and January 2025, coupled with a similar monthly casualty rate, indicates that Russian forces are taking the same high level of losses despite achieving fewer territorial advances in the near term,” the analysts write.

ISW noted that the Russian military command likely suffered record-high personnel losses from September to November 2024 in order to facilitate greater territorial gains.

• In the first month of 2025, Ukrainian defenders took out over 15,000 Russian invading troops in one of the hottest front-line sectors – Pokrovsk.