At least 20,451 Russian servicemen have been killed during the war in Ukraine so far, BBC News Russian and Mediazona confirmed using publicly available information.
In the past two weeks, journalists established the names of 1,820 casualties, the highest number since the war began.
Every week since January 2023, an average of 700 deaths have come to light through public sources. During the first year of Russia’s invasion, reporters learned of 250-300 casualties per week.
According to the BBC and Mediazona, mobilised servicemen, volunteers, prisoners, and newly recruited PMC fighters make up a third of these losses. A study of cemeteries in more than 65 Russian localities over the past 14 months has led journalists to estimate that at least twice as many casualties have been buried on Russian soil.
“Consequently, the most conservative estimate states that Russia may have lost 41,000 soldiers during its invasion of Ukraine”, the BBC and Mediazona reported.
The US Centre for Naval Analyses has estimated that Russia’s irretrievable combat losses (those disabled, killed, and missing in action) could total 184,000. This does not include soldiers in the pro-Russian “people’s militias” of Donetsk and Luhansk. Furthermore, even a ballpark estimate of Russian MIAs is not possible.
The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing leaked Pentagon documents, that the Russian Federal Security Service estimated nearly 110,000 Russians wounded and killed in combat.
Another classified US document that has been leaked online puts the number of Russia’s combat losses at between 189,000 and 223,000 killed and wounded, including up to 43,000 killed in action. Several US officials had previously estimated Russian losses at around 200,000 soldiers.
