**Russia’s Ukraine Invasion Takes Heavy Toll on Troops**
Russian forces have suffered heavy casualties in their invasion of Ukraine. According to a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian troops lost approximately 53 soldiers per square kilometer as they advanced through Ukrainian territory in fall 2024.
The ISW report estimates that Russian forces captured around 2,356 square kilometers of territory during September, October, and November 2024. However, this came at a high cost, with an estimated 125,800 personnel lost.
**Record Peak in Russian Daily Losses**
In November 2024 alone, Russia reportedly lost over 45,690 soldiers, making it the fifth consecutive month of rising casualties. The British Defense Ministry reported a record peak in Russian daily losses during November 2024, averaging 1,523 casualties per day. On Nov. 28, Russia lost over 2,000 troops in just 24 hours.
**Russia’s Recruitment Efforts Slowed**
Meduza, an independent Russian outlet, reported that Russia’s recruitment of contract soldiers may have slowed in the third quarter of 2024. The outlet estimated that only 500-600 contracts were signed daily, a number insufficient to offset battlefield losses, which were estimated at 600-750 troops per day.
**Other Developments**
* Washington will send Kyiv hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds, thousands of rockets, and hundreds of armored vehicles before mid-January.
* Russia’s artillery advantage against Ukraine has dropped to 1.5 rounds per Ukrainian shell, down from a previous ratio of five to one.
* A Finnish court began trial for Yan Petrovsky, a Russian neo-Nazi mercenary, for war crimes he allegedly committed in eastern Ukraine between 2014 and 2015.
* The price of coffins in Russia has soared by 74% since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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