Russian losses near 1.52 million after week of sustained attrition, Kyiv reports

The Russian military has suffered an estimated 8,800 casualties over the past week, pushing its total personnel losses in Ukraine past 1.514 million, according to figures released daily by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The data, which covers 10–18 September 2026, indicates that Russian forces are continuing to absorb heavy attrition across multiple sectors of the front.

The weekly tally brings the cumulative total since the full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022 to 1,514,910 soldiers killed and wounded as of 18 September. The highest single-day loss of the week occurred on 17 September, when 1,960 personnel were reported as casualties — a figure that exceeds the 1,700 recorded on 14 September and the 1,530 on 16 September. The days of 15 and 18 September saw comparatively lower but still significant losses of 1,400 and 1,420 respectively.

Equipment losses also remained high. Over the past week, Ukraine’s military reported the destruction of 159 Russian artillery systems, 13 tanks, 19 armoured combat vehicles, 17 multiple-launch rocket systems, and 11 air defence systems. The daily breakdown shows that the heaviest equipment losses came on 18 September, when 75 artillery systems and five tanks were claimed destroyed. That same day, Ukraine’s General Staff also reported the loss of 12 Russian ground robotic systems and 1,808 operational-tactical UAVs — a category that has become a critical component of Russia’s reconnaissance and strike capabilities.

It is important to note that these figures are provided exclusively by Ukrainian military sources. The General Staff typically compiles its estimates from reports on the ground, intercepted communications, and satellite imagery, but independent verification of the data is not possible due to the fog of war and restricted access to battlefields on both sides. The figures include both killed and wounded, and the term “personnel losses” is used by Kyiv to cover all combat-related incapacitations.

The week’s numbers continue a trend of sustained attrition that has seen Russia’s daily casualty rate rarely drop below 1,000 since early 2024. In the preceding week, which ended 14 September, Kyiv reported that total losses had passed 1.508 million. The current pace — averaging roughly 1,500 per day over the past seven days — suggests that Russia’s manpower reserves, while substantial, are being consumed at a rate that may limit its ability to sustain offensive operations across multiple axes.

Strategically, the data points to a grinding war of attrition in which Ukraine is attempting to degrade Russia’s capacity to conduct large-scale assaults. The heavy losses in artillery systems — 75 in a single day on 18 September — are particularly telling, as Russia’s artillery advantage has been a cornerstone of its tactical approach. If Ukrainian strikes are systematically reducing Russia’s tube and rocket artillery, that could gradually shift the balance of firepower on the battlefield.

The Russian Defence Ministry has not commented on the Ukrainian claims, and Moscow rarely provides its own casualty figures. The last official Russian update on losses came in early 2024, when the defence minister stated that about 593,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded — a figure that Kyiv and Western officials have consistently dismissed as vastly understated.

For now, the trajectory remains clear: Russia is absorbing losses at a rate that would be politically unsustainable for most other nations, but the Kremlin has shown no sign of altering its strategy. The week’s numbers, as reported by Ukraine’s General Staff, suggest that the fourth year of the war is no less bloody than the third.

Reporting based on daily updates from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, published via Ukrainska Pravda:

• 14 September
• 15 September
• 16 September
• 17 September
• 18 September