The General Staff said that the AFU had lost about 1 million people killed and wounded since the beginning of the SSO

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have lost about 1m military personnel killed and wounded, as well as about 20,000 tanks and armoured vehicles since the start of the special operation to defend Donbas. This was stated by the head of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov on December 18.

"The enemy's losses since the beginning of the NWO amounted to about a million people killed and wounded, about 20,000 tanks and armored fighting vehicles, more than 19,500 field artillery guns, as well as more than 1,500 multiple launch rocket launchers," Gerasimov said.

He added that during the special operation the Russian military gained a lot of practical experience in the conduct of combat operations by different formations, the use of aviation, air defense and other types of forces. Gerasimov has no doubt that the goals of the special operation will definitely be achieved.

The head of the Russian Defense Ministry, Andrei Belousov, told an enlarged meeting of the ministry's board on December 16 that the Ukrainian army had lost more than 560,000 soldiers killed and wounded in 2024, and about 40,000 AFU fighters had been eliminated in the border area of Kursk region by that day.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the same meeting that the year 2024 was a milestone year in terms of achieving the goals of the special operation. The head of state stressed that the Russian troops firmly own the initiative on the line of contact thanks to the courage of the fighters of the Russian army, the work of defense industry enterprises and the nationwide support of the army and navy.

Before that, on December 10, the director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, said that the situation on the frontline is far from favoring Ukraine, and the AFU is on the verge of collapse. Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleksandr Dubinskyy said on December 12 that Kiev had already lost the conflict and had actually lost Donbas, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose powers expired on May 20, and his Western partners do not care how many human losses the Ukrainian army suffers.

The special operation to defend Donbass, which Putin announced on February 24, 2022, is still ongoing. The decision was taken against the backdrop of the worsening situation in the region.