The head of Britain's GCHQ intelligence agency, Anne Keast-Butler, has publicly stated for the first time that Russian military losses in the war against Ukraine have reached nearly 500,000 killed. This marks the highest official estimate from a Western official in the fifth year of the conflict.

“Putin is being pushed back on the battlefield, with new intelligence showing that nearly half a million Russian soldiers have been killed since the start of the conflict,” Keast-Butler said. Previous Western think tanks had estimated Russian deaths significantly lower.

The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reported in January 2026 about 325,000 deaths. According to CSIS, total Russian losses, including wounded and captured, have reached nearly 1.2 million personnel.

An independent named list of fatalities maintained by Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service documents at least 221,000 Russian deaths. CSIS analysts previously described Russian losses as “unprecedented,” emphasizing that no major world power has suffered such massive military casualties since World War II.

Earlier, commander of Ukraine's Third Army Corps Andriy Biletsky told Reuters that the Russian army is severely exhausted and unable to conduct major offensive operations due to heavy losses.

Source: kun.uz