Mediazona confirms identities of over 43,400 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine

Through open source research, Mediazona, a Russian independent media outlet, together with BBC Russia, confirmed the names of 43,460 Russian soldiers who had been killed since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Since Mediazona's last update in late January, the names of 1,176 Russian soldiers have been added to the list of casualties.

The journalists specify that the actual figures are likely considerably higher since the information they have verified so far comes from public sources, including obituaries, posts by relatives, news in regional media, and reports by local authorities.

In the past two weeks, at least 15 military personnel with ranks from Lieutenant Colonel and higher have been added to the list.

Since Russia began its all-out war against Ukraine, over 3,100 officers, with 364 holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel or higher have been killed in combat in Ukraine. In contrast, there have been nearly 5,216 casualties among newly recruited Russian soldiers.

A majority of those killed in action come from Rostov, Sverdlovsk, Bashkiria, Chelyabinsk, as well as the Buryatia republic.

Total estimates of Russia's casualties since the full-scale invasion vary widely. CIA Director William Burns wrote in a Foreign Affairs column on Jan. 30 that at least 315,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded, and two-thirds of Russia’s prewar tank inventory has been destroyed.

As of Feb. 2, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces says that Russia lost 387,060 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

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The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk