Ukraine says Russian forces suffered 42,860 killed or wounded in July, pushing Moscow’s estimated total casualties to 1.5 million as Kyiv intensifies long-range attacks inside Russia and claims new territorial gains in the south.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Ukraine is claiming one of the heaviest months of Russian battlefield losses since the war began, reporting nearly 43,000 Russian troops killed or wounded in July while simultaneously expanding long-range strikes against military and industrial targets hundreds of miles inside Russia.
Figures released by Ukraine’s Defense Ministry put Moscow’s July losses at 42,860 personnel, according to reporting on the latest Ukrainian estimates. Ukraine now estimates total Russian casualties since the war began at approximately 1.5 million.
The casualty figures are Ukrainian estimates and represent troops reported killed or wounded.
Kyiv is also claiming battlefield progress along the southern front, saying Ukrainian forces have liberated around 300 miles of territory.
At the same time, Ukraine has continued striking targets well beyond the front lines. Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian missiles and drones have targeted locations hundreds of miles inside Russian territory, continuing a strategy designed to hit military infrastructure and facilities supporting Moscow’s war effort far from the immediate combat zone.
The New York Post described two of the attacks:
“Long-range Flamingo missiles struck the Savasleyka airbase in western Russia, 435 miles from the border. It houses MIG-31 jets carrying ballistic missiles that strike Ukrainian cities and villages, but it’s not known how many jets were hit in the attack.
“Explosions were also heard in Samara, where Kyiv struck the Progress Rocket Space Center, one of the key enterprises of the state-run aerospace corporation Roscosmos.”
The Samara targets were more than 500 miles from the Ukraine-Russia border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly praised the attacks, saying in an X post, “The progress center, which was involved, among other things, in producing electronics, was hit. Flamingo missiles were used—a good achievement.”
Ukraine’s claims of heavy Russian losses come as Moscow continues searching for additional manpower to sustain its operations.
President Vladimir Putin has increasingly relied on recruitment methods extending beyond Russia’s conventional military pool. New recruits have reportedly been promised “quiet service” away from frontline combat, while at least 1,400 Africans have been drawn into the war through promises of money and, in some cases, threats.
People from at least 36 African countries have fought or are currently fighting in Ukraine, reflecting Moscow’s widening effort to supplement its available forces.
North Korea has provided another source of manpower.
More than 10,000 North Korean troops have already been sent to Ukraine, where they have suffered heavy casualties, and as many as 50,000 additional North Korean soldiers could eventually be deployed.
The growing reliance on foreign personnel comes against the backdrop of the cumulative Russian casualty figure cited by Ukraine, which now stands at an estimated 1.5 million killed or wounded.
The scale of the reported July losses was also highlighted in an X post as attention increasingly turns to the cost of sustaining Russia’s military campaign.
Taken together, Ukraine’s latest claims portray a conflict being fought simultaneously through attrition at the front and increasingly long-range attacks against Russia’s military infrastructure and defense-related industry.
The July casualty estimate, potential expansion of North Korean deployments and continued recruitment of foreign fighters point to Moscow’s ongoing need for personnel, while Ukraine’s Flamingo missile strikes demonstrate Kyiv’s continued effort to push the battlefield deeper into Russian territory.
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