Journalists confirmed the death of more than 26 thousand Russian soldiers

Journalists of the Russian Service of the BBC and “Mediazone”, who, together with a team of volunteers, keep a list of the names of the dead Russian servicemen in Ukraine, confirmed the death of 26,121 military personnel by the end of June 2023.

The authors of the list assume that it contains at least twice as many names as are actually buried in Russia. Studying the situation in cemeteries, journalists believe that according to the most conservative estimate, at least 52 thousand people died in the war in Ukraine. Russia’s irretrievable losses, taking into account those who were disabled due to serious injury or death, may amount to at least 235 thousand people.

Over the past two weeks, the publication confirmed the death of 487 mercenaries of PMC “Wagner”, of which 233 were prisoners. Almost all of them died near Bakhmut. During the entire time of maintaining the list, journalists established the names of 4,922 dead convicts.

At least 2,152 officers have died since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 597 of them were in the rank of major or higher. It is known about the deaths of 1,554 soldiers in the rank of lieutenant to captain.

The death of the Chief of Staff of the 35th Combined Arms Army of Russia, Major General Sergei Horyachev, who died, presumably in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine, was confirmed. Goryachev became the fifth Russian general whose death was confirmed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Journalists confirmed the death of 2,581 mobilized Russians. 60% of them died in the period from January 1, 2023. As specified in the study, this is a conservative estimate of losses, since often in publications about the death of military personnel, it is not indicated in what status they went to Ukraine.

The leaders in the number of confirmed losses were large industrial regions, in which many were recruited on the basis of subpoenas. Most of the confirmed dead were in the Sverdlovsk region (978 people) and Chelyabinsk region (821), as well as in the Krasnodar region (976).

Per capita, Buryatia and Tuva lead in the number of casualties. Men from Buryatia are 75 times more likely to die in the war in Ukraine than men from Moscow.

In general, 8 out of 10 Russian regions with the highest mortality rates are located in Siberia and the Far East. Most of these regions are considered economically disadvantaged. The lowest mortality rates are observed in Moscow (3 per 100,000 men) and St. Petersburg (10 per 100,000 men).

Only people whose death was established on the basis of open sources — documents, messages from relatives, data on graves — are included in the monitoring of “Mediazone” and the BBC. The real number of losses may be many times higher.

• According to the UN, from February 24, 2022 to May 8, 2023, 8,791 civilians were killed in Ukraine, and 14,815 were injured. Most of the civilians suffered during the use of explosive weapons with a wide range of damage – 7,297 people died, 14,022 were wounded. The UN explains that the real number of victims may be much higher.
• The Ukrainian authorities are investigating numerous criminal cases against the Russian military, accusing them of crimes against the civilian population. Russia denies its involvement in the killing of civilians.
• The Russian army does not disclose losses in the war with Ukraine. In November, the Pentagon said that according to its estimation, the losses in killed and wounded in Russia and Ukraine amounted to approximately 100 thousand people each.