01/26/2026 

During December 2025, the Russian occupation army lost 35,000 soldiers in Ukraine. The statistics for the month are indicative: they are twice as many as the losses of Soviet troops 
during the 10-year war in Afghanistan.

This fact was pointed out by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who on January 26 met with Ukrainian soldiers during the presentation of the initiative to assess the effectiveness of drone units “E-balls”. The speech was published on the OP website.

Russia’s losses are already significant, but they need to be increased

The Head of State reported that now more than 80% of enemy targets are destroyed using UAVs. And the absolute majority of drones are domestic. “It is very nice that these are Ukrainian-made drones,” he said.

In 2025, 819,737 targets were hit by drones. “We clearly record every hit,” the president noted.

“And we also have points for each defeat – you know this from personal experience. Our bonus system of electronic points works to scale the results of the defense,” he addressed the defenders.

Zelenskyy said that over the past month – December 2025 – Ukrainian units achieved the result of 35,000 destroyed occupiers.

“Thank you for this result. These are killed, seriously wounded occupiers. A very interesting example. Over the 10 years of the war in Afghanistan, the Soviet army lost half as much as the Russians lost in one month of this war. That’s the difference. Such a terrible war, and that’s what you are like. You are truly heroes, you are truly brave,” the president said.

Kremlin propaganda pretends that the losses do not concern the Russian Federation. But this is not even about “concern”, but about the impact in practice.

The task for Ukraine is to ensure such a level of destruction of the invaders that the losses will be greater than the amount of replenishment that the enemy can send to the troops every month. Zelensky is convinced that this is a realistic task.

“When it comes to 50,000 Russian losses per month, this is the optimal level. This task is difficult, of course, but nevertheless, it is the optimal level for Russia to start considering what they are doing and what they are fighting for,” he said.

Ukraine needs leadership in technology

The head of state also emphasized the role of technology in modern warfare. According to him, Ukraine must maintain leadership and win in each cycle of their development, quickly respond to new challenges, and predict the next stages of technological warfare.

“But it was also not easy to get to our current level. And Ukraine did it. And we all did it together. We must ensure Ukraine’s unwavering technological leadership. And that means even greater efficiency of developers, even greater efficiency of all manufacturers of our drones. Even greater efficiency of our “Drone Line”, your units. Even greater efficiency of each unit that works with drones, with technologies, works with all elements of this war.

“To do all this means to guarantee Ukraine’s life. I am sure that all this will happen,” the president concluded.

As OBOZ.UA previously wrote:

– The new Minister of Defense, Mikhail Fedorov, has already reported that the strategic goal of the Joint Operational Command is to increase the losses of Russian occupation forces to 50,000 people per month.

– According to The Times, Ukrainian heroes during the battles for Kupyansk destroyed 27 times more Russian soldiers than they themselves lost.

– The Institute for the Study of War said that the Russian Federation is stepping up recruitment efforts for its newly created drone force. Potential recruits are being offered one-year contracts with the option of release upon completion.

https://www.obozrevatel.com/ukr/politics-news/za-misyats-vijni-v-ukraini-armiya-rf-vtratila-bilshe-nizh-radyanska-armiya-za-desyat-rokiv-vijni-v-afganistani-zelenskij.htm