Ukraine’s General Staff says Russian forces lost 46,230 personnel killed or wounded in September, the highest monthly toll of 2026 and a 45.8% jump from January’s count. Analyst Ragnar Gudmundsson calculated a single-day peak of 2,090 Russian casualties on September 28 from the General Staff’s daily figures.
The General Staff’s tally for the first nine months of 2026 stands at 326,900. Separately, on September 11, it put Russia’s cumulative casualties since the February 2022 invasion at more than 1.5 million, matching UK Defence Intelligence’s independent estimate of roughly 1.5 million total Russian casualties, including about 500,000 killed. UK Chief of Defence Staff Sir Richard Knighton called the toll “the senseless and futile waste of human life for such little progress.”
The joint BBC Russian and Mediazona tracker, which cross-checks obituaries, relatives’ social media posts and local news reports, had documented 259,000 named deaths as of September 21, while cautioning “this list is not exhaustive, as not every death is publicly reported.”
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Russian commanders show no sign of easing the offensive tempo that produces those numbers. One Ukrainian electronic warfare operator said Russian units “continue to deploy infantry — often in waves — to overwhelm positions.”
Moscow is making up those losses through its autumn conscription cycle, calling up roughly 120,000 men beginning October 10. Colonel General Yevgeny Burdinsky, who runs the General Staff’s mobilization directorate, said the new conscripts will not be sent to carry out tasks as part of the special military operation, the same pledge given every cycle since Russia moved to year-round conscription. The spring 2026 round sent more than 140,000 conscripts into service.
An estimated 14,000 to 15,000 North Korean troops have also deployed to Russia’s Kursk region since 2024, and about 9,500 were still there but not taking part in combat operations, as of August. Zelensky says Russia wanted 30,000 additional North Korean troops and had begun readying facilities in Voronezh for them.
A smaller North Korean missile unit, roughly 90 personnel, is separately deploying to Voronezh, where Ukrainian military intelligence expects it to operate “up to 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers.”
