Russia gained 4,000sq km of Ukraine in 2024. How many soldiers did it lose?

Verifying casualty figures for soldiers in the Russia-Ukraine war is difficult, as experts call it ‘a war of narratives’.

Russia this week claimed to have captured the resource-rich town of Kurakhove in eastern Ukraine, as its forces ground forward in the region nearly three years into the war.

Even as Ukraine launched a new offensive in Russia’s Kursk, leaving residents shaken, Moscow’s forces have continued to make slow gains in eastern Ukraine. That attritional war appears to be taking a toll on the morale of Ukrainian forces who face manpower struggles in the face of relentless attacks from Russia.

Now, stunning new numbers are pointing to a sharp escalation in the costs the war is imposing on both sides in Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II. Russia gained Ukrainian territory twice the size of Mauritius in 2024, experts say. But how many soldiers did it lose in the process?

Russian forces gained 4,168 square kilometres (1,609 square miles) of Ukrainian land in 2024, according to geolocated evidence collected by the Washington, DC-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

That’s twice the size of the Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius and five times the area of New York City.