Russian casualties in Ukraine surge: Over 80,000 confirmed dead
According to data provided by the Russian BBC service and the independent portal Mediazona, the number of identified Russian soldiers who have died during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine is 80,973. More than half of them were not associated with the army when the war broke out.
The analysis is based on publicly available sources, such as funeral photos, information about the fallen published on local government websites, media reports, and posts from relatives, especially those with burial photos. The findings show a sharp increase in the number of casualties among Russians who signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense only after the invasion began.
Many of these newly mobilized soldiers die within 2-4 weeks of being sent to the front; some even after just a few days. According to reports from BBC and Mediazona, the proportion of volunteers among the total confirmed Russian casualties has been steadily increasing. Currently, they make up 22 percent of the total losses, compared to just 14 percent in November 2022.
At the same time, the percentage of prisoners who volunteered for the war in exchange for pardoning the rest of their sentence has decreased—from 26 percent in November 2022 to the current 18 percent. The regions with the most confirmed casualties are now Bashkiria, Tatarstan, and the Sverdlovsk Oblast. The latter entered this list after the mobilization and mass recruitment from prisons due to numerous industrial plants and large penal colonies.
Moscow and St. Petersburg with the lowest casualty rate
Regarding casualties per capita, Tuva, Buryatia, and Altai take the lead, while Moscow and St. Petersburg record the lowest rates. "Our calculations show that the probability of dying in the war for a resident of Tuva is nine times higher than for a resident of Moscow," the media report.
Additionally, at least 52 percent of all those killed on the front were people who were not associated with the Russian army at the beginning of the war. Journalists note that it has not been determined how 28 percent of the identified deceased ended up on the front.
