Russia lost 42,860 troops in July, the highest monthly figure since January 2025, according to Ukrainian forces. Ukraine's General Staff publishes figures about Russian losses, including soldiers killed, wounded, missing, and captured, on its website every month. The previous annual high was recorded in June, at 39,290 personnel losses.
Battlefield Tactics and Unconfirmed Toll
The toll reflects the army's "meat grinder" tactics, in which troops are repeatedly sent forward in small assault groups despite heavy losses. The number of losses has not been confirmed by the Russian government.
The figures come amid Ukraine's intensifying drone attacks launched deep into Russian territory. The defence ministry in Moscow said it had shot down 1,478 Ukrainian drones in the past 24 hours – the highest ever total claimed.
Drone Strikes on Russian Infrastructure
In the past month, Kyiv has focused on attacking facilities linked to Wildberries, Russia's largest e-commerce platform. Ukrainian military said it had disabled seven out of 10 of the company's largest warehouses in an effort to hurt the Russian economy and affect ordinary citizens financially, in a strike conducted with FP-1 drones.
But both sides' air defences are stretched to the point of near exhaustion, leading to a rise in civilian casualties and worries that the impact of the conflict beyond the immediate frontlines will only increase into the winter.
Mobilisation Fears and Waning Confidence
In July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the mounting death toll prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to prepare "the conditions for expanding mobilisation". Citing intelligence sources, Zelensky said that Moscow enlisted 221,000 people into the Russian military thus far in 2026.
Messages on Telegram chats have also shown ordinary Russians exchange rumours about a possible mobilisation and share advice on securing exemptions or avoiding the draft, The Guardian reports. Recent polling suggests confidence in the course of the war is weakening, with the share of Russians who believe the campaign in Ukraine is going well falling to its lowest level since April 2022.
