Russia Losing Artillery at Record Pace, Kyiv’s Figures Show

Russia continues to lose equipment at a vast rate in its full-scale invasion, according to Ukraine whose latest figures suggest that June is on track for its biggest monthly losses of artillery systems for the whole war.

Data from Ukraine’s defense ministry showed that in May, Russia had lost 1,160 artillery systems, the highest total for a month since Vladimir Putin started the invasion on February 24, 2022. It was the first time the figure had breached four figures and was well clear of the previous highest of 947 from September 2023.

But so far it looks like June will surpass that monthly record, with artillery losses in the first nine days already reaching 453, a rate if extrapolated over the month would equal 1,510.

As of Monday, the total Russian artillery losses for the war had reached 13,644, closing in on the milestone of 15,000. The tracker website Oryx, which draws on verifiable imagery, has counted losses of towed artillery of 372 and self-propelled artillery losses of 757, although the amount of equipment destroyed “is significantly higher than recorded.”

Russian troop losses continue to climb, reaching 519,750 troops on Monday after Kyiv reported there had been 1,190 Russian casualties the previous day in figures which include both the dead and wounded.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces attacked Russian S-400 and S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems across Crimea overnight Sunday, according to Ukraine’s General Staff. The radars of the systems reportedly stopped working “immediately” in the strikes near Dzhankoi, Chornomorske and Yevpatoria on the occupied peninsula.

“None of our missiles fired were intercepted by the enemy’s ‘highly effective’ air defense,” the General Staff said without specifying the consequences of the attack or what weapons were used.

It follows unconfirmed reports that Ukrainian drones targeted Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov where a sizable part of Moscow’s Black Sea has been transferred following repeated strikes on ships and infrastructure in Sevastopol.

Dmytro Pletenchuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Southern Defense Forces and the Navy told Ukrainian television Monday that Russia has started using submarines to patrol the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, the Kyiv Independent reported.

A day earlier, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Russia’s advance in the Kharkiv region “has stalled.” Moscow’s momentum in the northeast of the region bordering Russia focused Washington’s mind on allowing American weapons to strike Russian territory.

Sullivan said the region was “still under threat but Russians have not been able to make material progress on the ground in recent days.”