More than 53.5 thousand Russian soldiers died in the war against Ukraine

The number of Russian military personnel killed in the war with Ukraine was 53,586. This is stated in a new report by the BBC Russian Service and Mediazona with the support of volunteers.

Losses of the Russian army began to rise again in May 2024, which may be due to the start of the offensive in the Kharkov region. Over the past two weeks died 1431 people, which is higher than the figures for this period in 2022 and 2023.

About 20% of the dead were prisoners, 14% were volunteers, 12% were mobilized. There has been an increase in the number of deaths among volunteers, through whom the Ministry of Defense mainly replenishes its personnel: since October, the number of dead volunteers has not fallen below 75 per week, and sometimes exceeds 100.

In terms of the absolute number of deaths, the leaders are Krasnodar Territory (2022), Bashkortostan (1953) and Sverdlovsk Region (1802).

Journalists track losses through open sources: media reports, obituaries from local authorities and relatives. Real losses could be much higher.

• Ukraine and Russia rarely publish official data on their losses.
• At a press conference on February 25, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky for the first time revealed the losses of the Ukrainian army in the war with Russia. According to him, 31 thousand Ukrainian soldiers died. It is unknown whether this was only about the army or about all armed units controlled by the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
• Former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in December that the Ukrainian army had lost 383 thousand people killed and wounded. Moscow itself does not disclose its losses in the war. According to Zelensky, the Russian army lost 500 thousand people killed and wounded.
• Parties to military conflicts tend to downplay their losses and exaggerate those of the enemy.