The figure, reported by Bloomberg, is substantially higher than the monthly loss estimates NATO leadership gave in the spring and early summer.
According to the source, Russian commanders are sending troops into "kill zones" saturated with strike drones and mines and exposed to artillery fire. Ukrainian losses over the same period, with Kyiv's forces largely on the defensive, amounted to about 5,000 killed and wounded.
Earlier in the year, estimates of Russian losses were lower. In April, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Russia was losing 30,000 to 35,000 service members killed and wounded in some months, and repeated that estimate on June 17.
By late August the numbers had grown. NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska said Russia was losing more than 40,000 people a month. On September 24, Rutte gave a new figure: 43,000 killed and seriously wounded.
Ukraine's General Staff offered a similar estimate, saying Russian army losses in September were a record for the entire war, reaching 46,200.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) calculated that from February 2022 to June 2026, Russian forces lost about 1.4 million people, at least 450,000 of them killed. Analysts noted that Russia's monthly losses exceeded the pace of recruitment of new contract soldiers, at about 27,000 a month.
The Russian army's continuing offensive has begun to translate into territorial losses. By the assessment of the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russia lost control of 80.81 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory in September. Vladimir Putin claimed the capture of 1,301 square kilometers over the month, and ISW analysts called his statements about territorial gains "hallucinations."