In a dramatic uncovering that brings into focus the human toll of the Russia-Ukraine war, Russian independent media organization Mediazona, in partnership with BBC Russia, has verified the names of 47,700 Russian troops who have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The figure, based on open source investigation, is based on a painstaking trawl of available sources, including obituaries, family members’ social media statements, local newspaper reports, and regional government bulletins.
The latest fatality count, including the addition of 3,047 names since the previous Mediazona report at the end of February, is merely a fraction of the real cost of the war. Journalists warn that the true figures are “likely higher,” as the data collection is so limited and there are uncertainties built into such an fluid conflict. Open-source research by its very nature depends on what can be accessed through open channels and assumes the possibility of a large percentage of unrecorded or unreported casualties.
Broke down by figures, the statistics indicate a loss of more than 3,200 troops, 381 of which are Lieutenant Colonels and above—a significant loss to the command in the Russian military hierarchy. The troops are from predominantly Russian areas of Rostov, Sverdlovsk, Bashkiria, Chelyabinsk, and the Buryatia Republic, tracing a demographic outline of the nation’s commitment to the war.
Estimates of Russian military deaths are quite extensive. A joint report by Mediazona and Meduza published on February 24 put forward an estimate of at least 83,000 Russian troops dead in the war. At the same time, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg approximated, on March 14, more than 350,000 Russian soldiers killed and wounded, a number that reflects estimates by U.S. authorities alleging that more than 315,000 Russian soldiers had been wounded or killed during the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hit a different note recently when he asserted that about 180,000 Russian troops had been killed—a dramatic difference from the 31,000 Ukrainian troops he was listing as casualties on his side. But even Zelensky admitted exact figures are unknown and will probably only become known after the recapture of disputed lands.
Additional complexity in assessing the real human cost of the war comes from the complexities of information warfare, where both Ukraine and Russia can have different narratives serving their strategic agendas. The problem of getting accurate numbers stems from the “fog of war” and from the chaos surrounding such extensive hostilities.
