Russia suffers ‘its deadliest day of the war with 1,950 killed’ – with fresh humiliation for Putin after two-day Kursk counter offensive ends with 28 tanks blown up and 100 troops dead

According to the Ukrainian army, Russia has experienced its deadliest day of war to date in Ukraine, with 1,950 soldiers killed in just 24 hours.

Vladimir Putin’s losses in the war against Ukraine are mounting after thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed in the past two days alone. 1,770 soldiers were killed on Sunday and another 1,950 on Monday.

The record 1,950 soldiers killed in a day marks a new humiliation for Putin after his two-day Kursk counter-offensive ended last weekend with 28 tanks blown up and 100 troops killed, reports show.

Footage shows Russian armored vehicles, each carrying about 30 men, driving over landmines in Kursk before they explode. Some wounded soldiers crawl out of the wreckage as the smoke clears.

Russia has lost more than 710,000 troops since the start of Russia’s large-scale invasion almost three years ago, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said this week.

Vladimir Putin’s (pictured) losses in the war against Ukraine are mounting after Ukraine saw thousands of soldiers killed in the past two days alone, with 1,770 soldiers killed on Sunday and another 1,950 on Monday.

A view from a drone showing a destroyed Russian armored vehicle in part of a forest where the hottest phase of the war is taking place on November 9, 2024. The forest is located about 8 kilometers southwest of Kreminna in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine

Ukrainian soldiers of the mortar group of the “Karpatska Sich” battalion conduct combat operations and target the Russian army with a 120mm mortar on November 11, 2024 in Toretsk, Ukraine

Despite heavy losses, Moscow is pressing ahead with its ‘flesh attacks’ and continuing to make progress at the fastest pace since 2022, with the chief of Ukraine’s armed forces admitting this month that the country is currently facing ‘one of the most powerful’ Russian offensives since war broke out.

Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region has stalled, with Moscow reportedly amassing a force of 50,000 soldiers in its bid to reclaim territory taken from the country three months ago.

Kiev said last week that its forces had clashed with some of the estimated 11,000 North Korean soldiers sent to the region to support Moscow, with some experts saying their deployment could be partly to blame for heavy Russian losses.

Volodymyr Zelensky said at the time of the invasion of Kursk in August that the conquest of Russian territory could serve as a bargaining chip with Moscow.

But the manpower shortage has caused Ukrainian forces to lose some of the ground they captured in the August invasion and has continued to lose large parts of their own territory.

The record number of daily Russian losses on Sunday (1,770 troops) and Monday (1,950 troops), which surpasses the previous peak of 1,730 on a single day in May, is largely in line with estimates from Western countries.

The number of Russian soldiers killed and wounded averaged 1,500 “every day”, Britain’s Chief of Defense Staff Sir Tony Radakin told the BBC on Sunday.

Russia is making enormous sacrifices to “secure small pieces of land,” Radakin said, but added that it continues to make “tactical, territorial gains” and “put pressure on Ukraine.”

Sir Tony said the Russian people are paying an “extraordinary price” for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, saying October was the worst month for losses since the conflict began in February 2022.

A photo made available by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows the site of a rocket attack on a five-story residential building in Kryvy Rih, Ukraine, November 11, 2024

A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on November 12, 2024 shows Ukrainian rescuers carrying the body of a woman at the site of a slide bomb attack on a residential building in Zaporizhia, Ukraine, November 11, 2024

Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured) said at the time of the invasion of Kursk in August that the conquest of Russian territory could serve as a bargaining chip with Moscow

A distribution photo shows Ukrainian soldiers installing anti-tank landmines and non-explosive obstacles along the front line at a secret location near Khasiv Yar, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on October 30, 2024

“Russia is about to suffer 700,000 deaths or injuries – the enormous pain and suffering that the Russian nation must bear because of Putin’s ambition,” he told the Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.

The cost of the war, which he estimated at more than 40 percent of government spending on defense and security, is also a “huge drain” on Russia.

This past weekend saw the largest drone attacks by Russia and Ukraine since the start of the war, with the barrage hitting large parts of each country and downing hundreds of drones, including in the Moscow region.

The strikes have intensified amid expectations that newly-elected US President Donald Trump will put pressure on both sides to end the conflict.

Trump repeatedly said during his campaign that he could end the war “in one day,” without saying how.