Zelenskyy: Russia's 2025 losses in Ukraine total 346,000 – equal to troops drafted

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that Russia has lost 346,000 soldiers killed or wounded in action in 2025 so far – roughly the same number that Russia conscripted this year.

Source: Zelenskyy in a phone interview with Axios

Details: According to Axios, Zelenskyy dismissed recent claims that Russia is advancing on the front lines in Ukraine.

He said he had made it clear to US President Donald Trump that this is not true, and noted that US intelligence has also shown that "nobody is winning now on the battlefield".

Zelenskyy also said Ukrainian intelligence has learned that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin had privately boasted to his allies that Russia would seize the entire Donbas region by 15 October, a deadline that came and went.

Quote from Zelenskyy: "Russia can't do it. He [Putin] doesn't have enough people. His strong battalions have been destroyed. Today on the battlefield, we stay mostly where we stood during these last 2-3 months."

More details: Zelenskyy told Axios, citing Ukrainian generals, that Russia has lost 346,000 soldiers killed or wounded in action in 2025 so far.

He said this figure is nearly identical to the number of troops Russia has mobilised this year.

Zelenskyy continues to believe that the only way to make Putin genuinely negotiate is to give Ukraine the capability to strike military and energy targets deep within Russia.

He said he had told Trump that Ukraine would not even need to use missiles right away.

Putin will only come to the table if he realises that refusing dialogue could lead to "problems with Russia's energy facilities", Zelenskyy argued.

Quote from Zelenskyy: "We speak not only about Tomahawks. The US has a lot of similar things that don't require much time for training. I think the way to work with Putin is only through pressure."

Further details: Zelenskyy also told Axios that Ukraine estimates that the new US sanctions against Russian oil companies could cut oil exports by 50%, amounting to up to US$5 billion a month in lost revenue.

He said he hopes this will be followed by "new secondary sanctions" and "parallel steps from Congress".

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!