Rising toll: Over 100,000 Russian soldiers confirmed dead
According to the independent Russian service Mediazona, 109,635 confirmed deaths of Russian soldiers have occurred since 2022 in the war against Ukraine initiated by Russia's leader Vladimir Putin.
What do you need to know?
- The independent Russian service Mediazona confirmed the death of 109,635 Russian soldiers in Ukraine since 2022.
- Journalists and volunteers from the portal and the Russian BBC service verify the identities of the deceased based on open sources.
- This includes obituaries, cemetery records, social media, regional media, as well as accounts of events such as tree planting ceremonies to honour the deceased.
The services emphasize that the actual number of casualties may be much higher. After analyzing Russian casualty statistics, it is estimated that the number of deaths may be around 165,000 soldiers.
Among the Russian soldiers who died on the front, there were over 27,000 volunteers, 17,000 convicts recruited from prisons and penal colonies, and 12,000 mobilized soldiers. The deaths of over 5,000 officers have also been confirmed, according to Mediazona.
The war in Ukraine: Russian losses announced
Since the last update two weeks ago, the death of at least 2,000 Russian soldiers has been confirmed. Mediazona notes that the confirmed deaths represent "the minimum undeniable number" of casualties, as official Russian information is not published, and various centres base their estimates on different sources.
The American Institute for the Study of War estimated in February this year that 172,000 soldiers had died on the Russian side. In April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated enemy losses at 350,000 dead. Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defence estimated in March the number of fallen Russian soldiers to be between 200,000 and 250,000.
