Ukraine claims record 3,000 Russian casualties in one day as war drags on

Detailed summary

Meanwhile, Russia appears to suggest it has control of half of unoccupied Donbas.

As Ukraine, Russia and the United States engaged in their first peace talks since February this week, the front lines continued to deteriorate for Moscow as its casualties rose to a possible new record without any significant territorial gains.

Ukraine’s military said it had caused more than 26,000 Russian casualties – meaning those killed and seriously wounded – in the first 10 days of November, suggesting this month’s figure could mark a new record topping October’s 54,400.

On November 9, Ukraine also claimed a new daily record of 2,980 Russian soldiers killed or wounded. That marked the fourth reported daily record this year.

Al Jazeera cannot independently verify casualty claims by either side.

This cluster of new casualty records in the autumn, accompanied by a lack of any significant territorial gains by Russia, suggested that Moscow was not coming any closer to its goal of seizing the last remaining quarter of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region this year.

A group of pro-Ukrainian hackers from Belarus said they had accessed records of the Russian state statistical service, Rosstat, and discovered an official tally of 450,000 Russian fatalities for the entire full-scale invasion, since 2022.

Independent assessments indicate that Russia has seized a net 117sq km (45sq miles) this year, a poor showing for its pains.

Yet, Russia was as defiant as ever at peace talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11.

Presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who headed the Russian delegation, told Vesti television after the talks concluded that he would be satisfied “only when we win and sign a peace agreement on our terms”.

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