BBC and Mediazona journalists as well as a team of volunteers have studied open sources to identify names of 12,225 Russian service members who were killed in the Ukraine war, including 800 draftees.
Almost 15% (1,627) identified Russians were officers. Moreover, 4 generals and 52 colonels are on the list as well.
“The lion’s share of losses are volunteers, Wagner Group mercenaries (including convicts), and draftees. Together, they make up 25% of the total number of confirmed deaths,” the research notes.
According to the research, the real number of losses can be at least 40-60% higher because journalists only went over open data sources and reports from more than 60 cemeteries in Russia.
Therefore, the most conservative estimate puts Russian losses in the Ukraine war at more than 24,000 people, while the total number of irreplaceable casualties (injured, dead, or missing) can be as high as at least 110,000.
In early November, the same team put the total number of deaths at 8,300. Ahead of the mobilisation announcement, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu reported that 5,937 Russian service members had died since the war broke out. However, BBC News Russian at the time said that more names of killed Russians were known and recorded.
