Is Russia facing a soldier crisis? Moscow casualties hit 1.1 mn as Putin calls on 2 mn reservists

As the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war continues to rage on, an intelligence report released by the UK Ministry of Defence stated that Moscow has seen 1.1 million soldier casualties in the ravaging conflict. As per the assessment, Russia has likely sustained around 332,000 casualties so far in 2025.

In its update published on X, formerly known as Twitter, the British MoD said that the Russian forces suffered an average of 950 daily casualties in September 2025, which marked a moderate increase in numbers compared to August. September recorded the second-lowest monthly average since April 2024, following several months of declining losses.

As per the data, Russia’s casualty rate dropped consistently from March through August 2025. It tends to witness a major rise again in October, surpassing 1,000 daily casualties each day from October 5 to 12, this year.

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Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 14 October 2025.

Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/tcIwDmTysn#StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/w6NOlo1Nq5

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) October 14, 2025

The British intelligence noted that the September average marked a sharp drop from the spring offensive’s peak, when Russian forces suffered around 1,300 daily casualties in March and April. April alone saw roughly 36,000 losses - about 27 per cent higher than the current levels.

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Russia conscripts more soldiers

Despite the reduced rate over the summer, the report noted that Moscow tends to face heavy losses during the winter while maintaining a high operational tempo across the frontlines and continuing to make incremental territorial gains.

The UK MoD shared the assessment at a time when reports are emerging that Russia is considering the deployment of about two million military reservists to Ukraine under new legislation. According to The Moscow Times, the amendments to the law are likely to be backed by the country’s parliament.

The proposed legislation would allow reservists to be called up during peacetime, rather than when war has been declared. The measure is being undertaken because Moscow still calls its invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation”. It would allow the Russian President Vladimir Putin to avoid another deeply unpopular round of mobilisation, something he has so far resisted after a partial drive in September 2022 prompted tens of thousands of Russian men to flee the country.

While speaking on the law, Alexei Zhuravlev, deputy chairman of Russia’s parliamentary defence committee, said the force of two million reservists was “professionals in their field” but were currently being unused. “Until now, it has only been possible to use this potential during periods of martial law or mobilisation. We are engaged in very real and large-scale combat operations [in Ukraine,] but officially, war has not been declared,” he told Russian news outlet RTVI.

Apart from this, an additional amendment would authorise their deployment abroad. Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Russian parliament’s defence committee, said that Putin could choose to deploy the reservists in Ukraine’s north-eastern Sumy and Kharkiv regions, where Moscow has been attempting to take new ground.