A new think tank report claimed that the total casualties in the Russia-Ukraine war have risen to over 2 million, including up to 600,000 deaths, but the confirmed total remains elusive.The report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, released on Wednesday, gave the think tank’s latest input on the grinding war that has now lasted longer than World War I. The study authors claimed that Russian casualties have reached 1.4 million, including between 400,000 and 450,000 deaths, and that Ukraine suffered between 525,000 and 625,000 casualties, including between 125,000 and 150,000 deaths.Even worse in the report’s telling, the casualty ratio for the first half of 2026 was 8:1 in Ukraine’s favor, compared with 2:1 or 3:1 previously.
Much of the study proceeded from these estimates, arguing that it illustrates a losing calculus for Moscow.As for how the casualty estimates were quantified, the report said they came from “CSIS estimates; UK Ministry of Defense; analysis of data collected by Russian news outlet Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service; and interviews with U.S., European, and other government officials.”Notably, the CSIS estimate of Russian casualties is the same number as that claimed by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense.The sourcing of the study faces the same issues as previous casualty estimates, which have become notoriously difficult to quantify due to Ukraine and its allies and Russia and its allies’ vested interest in downplaying their own casualties while inflating the enemy’s.The Washington Examiner reached out to the author of the report for further clarification.Difficulties with casualty estimates
