Analysis confirms death of almost 40,000 Russian soldiers
The number of Russian casualties is a well-kept secret in Moscow. However, the media has managed to confirm the names of numerous dead soldiers through publicly accessible sources.
The independent Russian media company Mediazona, in collaboration with BBC Russia, has confirmed the names of 39,424 Russian soldiers killed since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 through open source research. Since Mediazona's last update on December 1, the names of 1163 Russian soldiers have been added to the list of casualties.
The journalists point out that the actual number is probably much higher, as the information they have verified so far comes from public sources, including obituaries, contributions from relatives, news in regional media and reports from local authorities.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, 2900 officers alone, 337 of them with the rank of lieutenant colonel or higher, have been killed in action in Ukraine. Lieutenant General Oleg Zokov, the deputy commander of the Southern Military District, is the highest-ranking Russian military officer to have died during the war. Most of those killed came from the Sverdlovsk, Bashkir and Chelyabinsk regions and the Republic of Buryatia.
A striking number of reports of casualties also come from the Krasnodar region and the Moscow region. According to Mediazona, this increase is mainly due to the efforts of volunteers who document soldiers' graves in local cemeteries in order to raise public awareness of the large number of casualties.
Kremlin stonewalls on casualty figures
Estimates of the total number of Russian casualties have long differed widely. This was due to the fact that Russia only published the number of fallen soldiers at the beginning of the invasion, but then refrained from doing so. The pro-Kremlin Russian newspaper "Readovka" reported a total of 13,414 Russian soldiers killed at the end of April 2022. However, Western analysts' estimates of Russian soldiers killed and injured are now converging.
The New York Times reported in August, citing US officials, that the number of Russian casualties is around 300,000. This figure includes around 120,000 dead and 170,000 to 180,000 injured. The Wall Street Journal reported 315,000 casualties at the beginning of December. In an analysis, the British Ministry of Defense came to a similar conclusion to the US representatives regarding the total number. There is talk of around 320,000 victims, although there is no breakdown of deaths and injuries.
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The international community, including the USA, has strongly condemned Russia's attack on Ukraine and called for an immediate withdrawal of Russian forces. Despite Russia's refusal to disclose accurate casualty figures, analysis and reports from reliable sources suggest a significant number of Russian soldiers have been killed, with estimates ranging from the BBC and Mediazona's confirmed 39,424 to media outlets like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal's more substantial counts of around 300,000 and 315,000 casualties respectively.
Source: www.ntv.de
