Russia’s War Death Tally Spurs European Scrutiny on Recruitment

The number of Russian soldiers killed in action in the war on Ukraine has jumped in recent weeks, a dynamic that — if sustained — could make it hard for the Kremlin to replace troops without some form of mobilization, according to European estimates.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Kyiv’s forces killed 35,000 Russian troops in December. In the grim calculus of war, he cited an ambition to raise that number to 50,000 by this summer — a figure that would roughly double the monthly average calculated by NATO in 2025.