Russia’s ‘meat assaults’ in Ukraine cost it over 6,000 troops in four days, Kyiv says

KYIV — The Russian army sustained over 6,000 casualties in the last four days as it attempted a renewed offensive that was beaten back by the Ukrainian military.

“The enemy tried to break through the defensive formations of our troops in several strategic directions at once … In total, the enemy conducted 619 assault actions during these four days,” Ukrainian Army Commander Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a statement on Monday, describing the Russian operations as “a colossal pressure.”

Syrskyi said the Russian command threw tens of thousands of soldiers into the “meat assaults.”

While Ukrainian open source analysts at the Deep State live map project reported the Kremlin’s army managed to advance in several small villages, it came at a catastrophic cost.

“Over four days of intensive assault operations, the enemy lost more than 6,090 soldiers killed and wounded,” Syrskyi said, adding that Kyiv largely managed to repel the offensive.

The number of Russians killed or wounded was also reported Monday by the Ukrainian army command. The Russian ministry of defense reported targeting Ukrainian troops in more than 147 fighting districts in the Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions over the past few days, but did not reveal the number of Ukrainian or Russian losses, or any significant advances.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russian troops have noticeably become more active, taking advantage of the better weather, and that there have been more attacks.

“But this also means more Russian losses. In this week alone, more than 8,000 have been killed and seriously wounded. They also had mechanized assaults. Our drones are working well, and the positions of our army are strong,” Zelenskyy said in an evening statement to the nation on Sunday.

The Institute for the Study of War think tank confirmed that so far, the Ukrainian military is forcing Russian forces to choose between defending against Ukrainian counterattacks and allocating manpower and equipment for offensive operations elsewhere on the front line.

“Russia’s redeployments to southern Ukraine in response to Ukrainian counterattacks are likely disrupting the Russian military command’s plans for the Spring-Summer 2026 offensive against the (Donetsk) Fortress Belt,” ISW said in its latest war assessment, referring to Ukraine’s fortified cities in the east of the country.

“Russian forces have previously failed to conduct simultaneous offensives in different sectors of the front, and it is unlikely that they will be able to make significant efforts to advance in the Fortress Belt area while contending with Ukraine’s recent successes in the Hulyaipole and Oleksandrivka directions,” it added.