Media investigation identifies over 90,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine

The BBC and the independent outlet Mediazona have identified the names of 90,019 Russian soldiers who died during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the BBC reported on Jan. 24.

Since the media outlets' last update in mid-January, the names of 1,964 Russian soldiers have been added to the list of casualties.

Some 23% of all those killed were military personnel who signed a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry after February 2022.

According to the investigation, 17% of the identified soldiers were professional contractors, 17% were convicts who left for the war from prisons, and 12% were conscripts.

The media revealed that nine generals and 500 soldiers with the rank of lieutenant colonel and higher were among the killed.

As of Jan. 24, the highest casualty rates were among the residents of Bashkortostan, Russia’s republic near the Ural Mountains and the homeland of the Bashkir people. Russia’s non-Slavic ethnic groups have been overrepresented in its casualty figures in the war with Ukraine.

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The authorities and media in this region reported a total of 3,932 deaths during the full-scale war, the investigation read.

Russia's real losses are likely higher, as the media analysis is estimated to cover 45% to 65% of the actual death toll, the BBC reported. According to the journalists’ estimates, the actual losses could range from 138,500 to 200,000 people killed.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec. 8 that about 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed during the full-scale invasion. The last time Moscow officially announced the number of soldiers killed was in September 2022, putting the number at 5,937.

Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Jan. 19 that Russian forces suffered their heaviest losses last year since the start of the full-scale war, with total military losses reaching 434,000 soldiers killed and injured in 2024.

This represents around half of the 800,000 killed and injured Russian soldiers since the start of the full-scale war, according to Ukraine’s military.

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