Russian casualties in Ukraine war exceed 61,000, reports show
2:44 PM EDT, August 6, 2024
Over 61,000 Russian soldiers have died during the war in Ukraine, according to findings by Mediazona and the Russian branch of the BBC. Journalists emphasize that the number of obituaries is growing so quickly that they can't keep up with counting them.
The Russian government doesn't provide information on how many soldiers have died on the front in Ukraine. However, since the beginning of the war, Mediazona journalists and the BBC's Russian section have been investigating this. They analyze obituaries that appear throughout Russia and verify whether they pertain to soldiers sent to war.
According to the latest findings, as of August 2, journalists counted 61,831 Russian military personnel who have perished in the war.
As Mediazona points out, in just the last two weeks, over 2,000 people have been added to the list. However, the scale of losses in recent months is likely much larger.
"Due to our detailed analysis of information on losses, we have accumulated a 'debt' of several thousand obituaries that we found but have not yet had time to verify," Mediazona reported.
What is the true scale of losses?
Journalists assure that in the coming weeks, they will provide the true number of casualties after processing the obituaries they have pending.
Estimates indicate that at least half of those killed were not associated with the military before the start of the war in Ukraine. Some were convicts sent to the front, while others were volunteers and mobilized individuals.
The data provided by journalists is only a part of the true scale of Russia's losses. In April, it was estimated that over 120,000 Russians might have died on the front.
