KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The number of Russian troops killed or wounded in Ukraine has topped 1 million, military officials in Kyiv said Thursday, describing the huge price that Moscow has paid for its three-year-old invasion.
The claim by the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces, which came on a holiday celebrating Russia’s sovereignty, is in line with Western intelligence estimates.
President Vladimir Putin marked Russia Day by hosting a Kremlin meeting with soldiers decorated for their service in Ukraine, but neither he nor any other officials commented on the Ukrainian claim.
The U.K. Defense Ministry also said in a statement posted Thursday on X that Russia has suffered more than 1 million casualties, including roughly 250,000 killed since it launched the full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
On June 3, the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington said Russia likely would hit the mark of 1 million casualties this summer in what it called “a stunning and grisly milestone.”
The casualty estimates came as Russian forces pummeled Ukraine with drones and other weapons, killing three people and injuring scores of others despite international pressure to accept a ceasefire.
According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched 63 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight. It said that air defenses destroyed 28 drones while another 21 were jammed.
Ukrainian police said two people were killed and six were injured in the past 24 hours in the eastern Donetsk region, the focus of the Russian offensive. One person was killed and 14 others were also injured in the southern Kherson region, which is partly occupied by Russian forces, police said.
The authorities in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, said 18 people, including four children, were injured by Russian drone attacks overnight.
Russia and Ukraine conducted another POW swap on Thursday that included severely wounded and gravely ill captives, although the sides did not report the numbers.
According to Ukraine’s Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, some of the repatriated soldiers had been listed as missing in action. The oldest among them is 59, the youngest is 22, he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with participants of the Time of Heroes, an educational program for veterans of special military operation, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Sergei Bulkin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Thursday, June 12, 2025, a rescue worker evacuates a woman from a building which was damaged by a Russian strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Services via AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius attend a news conference during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Smoke rises after a Russian air strike on Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)