Russian losses on the battlefield in Ukraine alone are thought to be so considerable in number, that some observers are comparing them in scale to the combined death toll for American forces in various conflicts across multiple decades.

But how do the combat loss figures from the two Cold War adversaries stack up?

The Claim

In a Reddit post titled “Russia has lost more fighters than the U.S. has lost in the past 60 years… combined”, user u/trigrhappy pondered how the price in personnel Putin has paid in his invasion compares to the most recent American military campaigns.

Quoting recent figures from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, the user said that it was a “critical enough milestone” to reflect that Russia had lost 66,280 fighters since the war started on February 24.

“The bottom line is that as of 13 hours ago, Russia was 88 killed in action away from surpassing all U.S. combat deaths since 1962….. combined,” the user said in the post which sparked a lively thread discussion.

The Facts

Every day, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces posts updates of its gains—and Russia’s losses—in the war, including the latest death toll of Russian troops, as well as information about other combat losses, such as tanks, artillery systems, and aircraft.

The Reddit post in question cited figures from Wednesday, October 19, which were also released by the Ukrainian defense ministry. On Thursday, the Ukrainian estimate of the Russian death toll was actually 370 higher, totaling 66,650.

The Reddit post said that “from the beginning of the Vietnam war until present day, the U.S. has lost 66,368 military members in conflicts throughout the world,” as it added that this included both combat and non-combat deaths in theater.

The post cited data from the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS), which collates information on those “who have fallen in global or regional conflicts involving the United States.”

DCAS said there were 58,220 American deaths in the Vietnam War, and a combined 383 deaths in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield. It also said there were 4,418 American deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and another 74 in Operation New Dawn.

Meanwhile, there were 107 U.S. deaths each in the operations Inherent Resolve and the same number in Freedom’s Sentinel; and 2,349 American troops died in Operation Enduring Freedom for a total of 65,658. The Reddit post cited as “various” 710 other deaths in American campaigns to take the total up to 66,368.

While at first glance, the Ukrainian military’s estimates are indeed higher than the U.S. soldier death toll cited by u/trigrhappy, the big caveat is that it’s extremely difficult to estimate the exact number of Russian losses.

The Kremlin has rarely released figures to the public and Ukrainian tallies of Russian deaths are much higher than other international estimates.

The latest official Russian tally came on September 21, when Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that 5,937 Russian soldiers had been killed. This was the first official figure since March 25 when it said 1,351 had died.

On October 7, the outlet Mediazona along with the BBC, said that there were 7,184 verified Russian military deaths, though it said the number “does not reflect the real level of losses,” only public and media reports of losses.

In August, Colin Kahl, the U.S. under secretary of defense for policy, said that there had been as many as 80,000 casualties in the first six months of the war, although this included deaths and injuries.

Meanwhile, as Michael Clarke, visiting professor in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, told Newsweek last week, the estimates by both Moscow and Kyiv are likely to be inaccurate.

He estimated that between 30,000 and 40,000 people had died under the Russian flag in Ukraine, including Wagner mercenaries and Syrian groups.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.

The Ruling

Unverified.

While going off Ukraine’s proclaimed figures the statement would be correct, it is currently impossible to get an accurate independent assessment of the Russian death toll amid the fog of war.

Moscow claims far fewer soldier deaths than Kyiv, although it has been tight-lipped about losses ever since the start of the war and so official Russian numbers are widely considered to be a significant underestimate.

Western estimates put the death toll in the tens of thousands, but still less than the Ukrainian armed forces tally of more than 66,000. It means that the exact number of dead remains unverified.