Report of the Russian Ministry of Defense on the “SVO” in Ukraine. 1597th day of the war

Experts from the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) and other independent military experts give an extremely low assessment of the reliability of the reports of the Russian Ministry of Defense, including on the losses of the Ukrainian side. Let us note that pro-Russian military experts do not trust these reports either. However, we believe it is important to publish the contents of these documents, as this may be required in the future for comparative analysis.

The reports of the Russian Ministry of Defense are quoted verbatim. This data is stored in our archive.

The report of the Russian Ministry of Defense states: “Units of the North group of troops have improved the tactical situation. They defeated the manpower and equipment of two mechanized brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a technical defense brigade in the areas of the settlements of Khoten, Velikaya Rybitsa and Mirlogi of the Sumy region. In the Kharkov region, the formations of two mechanized, motorized infantry brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a military defense brigade and a border detachment of the Ukrainian border service were defeated in the areas settlements of Velikiye Prokhody, Krugloye, Izbitskoe and Zakharovka of the Kharkov region. The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 170 military personnel, five armored combat vehicles, including a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier and 12 vehicles. Units of the West group of forces occupied more advantageous positions and positions. settlements of Maleevka, Chervony Oskol, Kasyanovka, Podliman of the Kharkov region and Shchurovo of the Donetsk People’s Republic In the settlement of Krasny Liman of the Donetsk People’s Republic, units of the 67th motorized rifle division of the 25th army completed the destruction of scattered enemy forces from the 60th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the 120th defense brigade. more than 15 Ukrainian military personnel, a vehicle and six ground-based robotic systems were destroyed. In total, in the zone of responsibility of the “West” group of forces, the enemy’s losses amounted to more than 210 military personnel, three armored combat vehicles, 16 vehicles, two field artillery guns, a Grad multiple launch rocket system combat vehicle and two electronic warfare stations. Units of the “Southern” group of forces improved the situation along the front line. two mechanized, airmobile, mountain assault, air assault and assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Alekseevo-Druzhkovka, Verolubovka, Nikolaevka and Orekhovatka of the Donetsk People’s Republic. During the day, the enemy lost over 175 military personnel, four armored combat vehicles, 13 vehicles and a field artillery gun. Units of the “Center” group of troops were improved. tactical situation. They defeated the manpower and equipment of two mechanized, assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a brigade of marines and three brigades of the National Guard in the areas of the settlements of Svyatohorivka, Dobropolye, Novonikolayevka, Gruzskoye, Novofedorivka, Sergeevka and Shilovka of the Donetsk People’s Republic. The losses of the Ukrainian armed forces amounted to more than 325 military personnel, two armored combat vehicles, 12 vehicles and three. artillery guns. Units of the Vostok group of forces advanced into the depths of the enemy’s defense. They defeated the manpower and equipment of two air assault brigades, an assault regiment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a marine infantry brigade and a terrestrial defense brigade in the areas of the settlements of Chernenkovo, Ivanovka, Kolomiytsy in the Dnepropetrovsk region, Nikolskoye and Novosoloshino in the Zaporozhye region. 450 military personnel, two armored combat vehicles and five vehicles. Units of the Dnepr group of troops defeated formations of a mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and a military defense brigade in the areas of the settlements of Orekhov, Zaporozhye region, and Zelenovka, Kherson region. Up to 55 military personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, an armored combat vehicle, 13 vehicles, a field artillery weapon and an electronic warfare station were destroyed. Operational-tactical aviation, attack unmanned aerial vehicles, missile forces and artillery of groupings of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation damaged logistics centers, fuel, energy and transport infrastructure facilities used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, storage sites for long-range unmanned aerial vehicles, warehouses for fuel and lubricants and ammunition, as well as points of temporary deployment of Ukrainian armed forces and foreign mercenaries in In 142 areas, nine guided aerial bombs and 468 aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down by air defense systems.”

“In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, the following have been destroyed: 673 aircraft, 284 helicopters, 177,674 unmanned aerial vehicles, 665 anti-aircraft missile systems, 30,087 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,756 combat vehicles of multiple launch rocket systems, 35,698 field artillery guns and mortars, 66,042 units of special military vehicles,” states the report of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

These data do not include information on the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, a significant part of the territory of which was held by the Ukrainian Armed Forces for more than eight months. From the point of view of the Russian authorities, the “special operation” on the territory of Ukraine and the “special operation” in the Kursk region were different military operations. On April 26, 2025, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General Valery Gerasimov, announced to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the complete liberation of the Kursk region from the Ukrainian armed forces. From this day on, the Russian Ministry of Defense stopped giving separate reports on the Kursk region. According to independent observers, the Russian Ministry of Defense greatly overestimates the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The confirmed losses of the Russian army and pro-Russian military structures in Ukraine (we are talking about verified data from open sources collected by the editors of Mediazona and the BBC) are about 231,000 people killed (by famous names) or about 352 thousand (by inheritance cases).

At the end of May 2026, the UK Government Communications Center (GCHQ), responsible for electronic intelligence, reported that since the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has lost almost 500 thousand people killed alone.

According to the independent resource UA Loss, which takes into account all those killed on the Ukrainian side, indicating their names and other data, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian army (February 24, 2022), more than 191 thousand Ukrainian military personnel have died or gone missing.

According to the latest published UN data, approximately more than 16,000 civilian deaths have been confirmed in Ukraine since February 24, 2022, including approximately 800 children; about 47,000 civilians, including approximately 3,000 children, were injured. The UN emphasizes that we are talking only about verified cases; real losses are probably much higher. Ukrainian authorities and local administrations speak of tens of thousands of civilian deaths, primarily taking into account Mariupol and other occupied territories where independent verification is impossible.