Media identifies over 82,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine

Journalists and volunteers have identified the names of 82,050 Russian soldiers who died during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine as of Dec. 6, according to a joint investigation by BBC Russia and Mediazona, a Russian independent media outlet, published on Dec. 11.

Russia has made territorial gains in eastern Ukraine, using brutal mass wave tactics to advance at the cost of high casualties among its soldiers.

Findings by Mediazona and BBC Russia show the losses disproportionally impact lower-income and racially marginalized regions of Russia. Bashkortostan is home to the highest number of identified soldiers killed in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military reported that Russia has surpassed 750,000 casualties in its war against Ukraine as of early December. The figure includes both dead and injured soldiers. Ukrainian and Western authorities have reported daily highs of up to 1,500 Russian casualties.

Ukrainian authorities reported 700,000 Russian losses on Nov. 4, less than three months after they announced 600,000 Russian casualties. Moscow does not disclose its casualty figures, though a Defense Ministry official recently let slip that the department received 48,000 requests to identify missing soldiers.

Russia has sought to avoid instituting a full-scale mobilization, a position politician analysts connect with fear of public disapproval. Instead, the country hiked sign-on bonuses to attract volunteers.

In an attempt to mitigate casualties among Russian citizens, Moscow has also made an effort to recruit foreigners into their army. Russia has cooperated with North Korea, with Pyongyang reportedly dispatching 10,000-12,000 soldiers to assist Russia with its war against Ukraine.

The independent Russian outlet Meduza reported last week that, according to its calculations, Moscow's losses began outpacing its recruitment capacity for the first time.

Russia’s losses may begin to outpace enlistment rates, media’s analysis says

Basing the conclusions on expenditures on sign-on bonuses and earlier research, Meduza estimates that the Russian military signed between 500-600 new contracts per day. This would be less or barely enough to cover Russia’s irreversible battlefield losses, estimated by Meduza at 600-750 per day.

The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek