Journalistic Sources Report Over 66,000 Russian Military Personnel Fatalities in Ukraine
By the middle of April, Mediazona and the BBC, utilizing publicly accessible government records, estimated around 50,000 Russian military casualties. Anastasia Alekseyeva, a journalist with Mediazona, mentioned that this figure does not account for soldiers lost during Ukraine's offensive in Kursk's border region, which commenced on August 6. It's important to note that Mediazona and the BBC's Russian service do not claim their figures are all-encompassing.
As per their research, around 12,000 of these casualties were prisoners. Russia, in a bid to beef up its military forces, had been heavily recruiting from prisons, offering pardons in exchange for military service temporarily.
When it comes to the Russian government, they consider the number of soldiers lost in the war as classified information. In June, President Vladimir Putin only revealed that Russian losses were "one to five" fewer than Ukraine's, in response to inquiries about the topic.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian President, reported 31,000 Ukrainian war casualties in February. According to a "New York Times" report, US government officials estimated Russian military losses at 120,000 dead soldiers as early as the previous year.
The Kursk's border region, where Ukraine launched its offensive, contributed to additional unaccounted military casualties beyond the estimated 50,000. Despite the controversy surrounding the exact number, Russia classifies the actual loss of soldiers from The Kursk war as confidential information.
