Russia Lost 30,272 Troops to Ukrainian Drone Strikes in July Alone, Zelensky Says

Based strictly on cases documented by clear video evidence, Russia lost 30,727 military personnel to Ukrainian drone strikes in July alone.This was reported by President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, Aug. 4, who made the remarks after receiving a report from Ukraine’s Security Service (SSU) chief Oleksandr Poklad on the agency’s performance in July, along with a Defense Ministry report on Russian battlefield losses that same month.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.“So the trend on the front remains unchanged,” Zelensky said, adding that “every month, the Russians lose about 30,000 troops.”According to him, the figure “includes both killed and badly wounded.”SSU’s Alpha unit leads on target engagementsThe SSU’s Alpha unit ranked first among Ukrainian units for successful target engagements in July, according to Zelensky.“We set the priorities for August,” Zelensky said, adding that he was “grateful to the SSU for the strong positions.”He also thanked international partners for supplying air defense missiles, calling air defense “the top priority,” while acknowledging that every package delivered to Ukraine “truly protects lives.”His statement comes as Patriot interceptors, the only systems currently capable of intercepting Russia’s ballistic missiles, remain scarce.Meanwhile, Russia has already exceeded its estimated monthly ballistic missile production within the first 19 days of July, simultaneously expending at least two-thirds of its planned annual output of 3M22 Zircon missiles. Other Topics of Interest Syria To Cut Russian Oil Imports per US Request Russian crude makes up roughly 60,000 barrels a day of Syria’s oil supply, a dependence Damascus is now looking to shed. Zelensky warned that the upcoming winter is especially important, as Russia may target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, along with water supplies.Ukrainian air defenses managed to intercept just one of 27 ballistic missiles Russia launched at Kyiv during an overnight barrage on Saturday, Aug. 1.Russia’s wartime lossesZelensky’s July drone-strike tally adds to a broader estimate he gave of Russia’s total wartime losses on July 31, when he put Moscow’s overall military casualties since February 2022 at approximately 1.6 million, including about 700,000 killed.Asked whether Ukraine was currently winning the war, Zelensky said the country was “not losing” and argued that Russia no longer held the initiative.“I don’t want to be very open about it because Russians will understand what’s going on with our army,” he said.However, Russia continues to rely on foreign troops to sustain its war effort, with North Korea now standing out as one of Moscow’s most valuable allies on the battlefield, supplying troops, weapons and manpower in exchange for financial and technological support.On June 19, 2024, Moscow signed a defense pact with Pyongyang, with both countries officially recognizing North Korean troop deployments in April 2025.Zelensky warned on July 29 that Russia is preparing to receive 30,000 additional North Korean troops and more ballistic missile launchers.Trump casts doubt on his initial pledge to supply Ukraine with PatriotsPresident Donald Trump floated granting Ukraine a license to produce Patriot interceptors during a meeting with Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7-8, further fueling expectations that Washington would follow through with the commitment during his latest meeting with Zelensky on July 28 at the White House.However, Trump softened his earlier commitment, and US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said no agreement has been reached on allowing Ukraine to manufacture Patriot interceptor missiles domestically. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.