Over 200 Russian men have lost their lives since the start of the mobilisation in the country, which was declared two months ago, according to some most conservative estimates. No less than 159 children have been left fatherless, Novaya-Europe’s data team has calculated using open sources.
Over the past two months, at least 15 mobilised fathers of many children have lost their lives in Ukraine and military units. Children became orphans in at least 91 families.
At least 217 men who received draft cards have died since 21 September, according to our calculations. It took them no longer than 23.5 days to lose their lives starting from leaving home on average.
Vasily Zhukov from Miass, an industrial city in the Urals, was mobilised on 29 September. He died on 13 October, 15 days after the draft. It took almost a month for Zhukov’s body to be transported home for burial. Vasily had three children: a teenage son who had just finished school, and two daughters, the younger being only 8 months old.
Vasily Zhukov. Source: social media
Fathers of three or more children aged under 16 were promised a draft deferment in October. Vasily was not eligible for it anyway as his son turned 16 in July.
The daily death toll peaked on 24 October when at least 24 men lost their lives. Nine of them were drafted in the Volgograd region. Readers of the regional media outlets wrote that a convoy with the mobilised might have come under attack in Ukraine’s Kherson region.
Confirmed deaths of Russian draftees
Data for regions where the “partial mobilisation” was held
*Occupied by the Russian Federation The draft location of 6 deceased draftees is unknown
Source: media reports
The regions in the Urals have suffered most casualties. Sixty mobilised from the Yekaterinburg region and 27 from the Chelyabinsk region have been confirmed to be dead. Also, at least 32 dead men hailed from the regions of Volgograd and Rostov-on-Don. This selection can be explained by the good work of the local media which regularly report losses among the mobilised.
