Nearly 209,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine identified by media investigation
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Russian independent media outlet Mediazona, in collaboration with the BBC Russian service, has confirmed the identities of 208,755 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine.
Since the media outlets' last update in late March, the names of 2,553 Russian soldiers have been added to the list of casualties.
The journalists note that the actual figures are likely significantly higher, as their verified information comes from public sources such as obituaries, posts by relatives, regional media reports, and statements from local authorities.
The confirmed death toll now includes over 76,300 volunteers, 23,400 recruited prisoners, and 18,400 mobilized soldiers, according to the media outlets.
A total of 7,003 officers have also been confirmed to have been killed. Most recently, Russian authorities confirmed the death of Lieutenant-General Aleksandr Otroshchenko was among those killed when an An-26 transport plane crashed in Russian-occupied Crimea on March 31.
The Kyiv Independent cannot independently verify the reporting.
While Moscow does not disclose its casualty figures at all, President Volodymyr Zelensky told France TV in an interview on Feb. 4 that at least 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed on the battlefield since the start of Russia's full-scale war.
Zelensky said on March 10, citing Ukrainian intelligence reports, that the Kremlin's own classified assessments estimate that 1,315,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and wounded on the battlefield.
"We have reason to believe that these figures are understated," Zelensky added.
Zelensky later claimed in early April that Russia suffered its highest monthly losses since the start of the full-scale invasion in March 2026, with more than 35,000 killed or wounded.
The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces estimates that as of April 12, Russia has lost around 1,311,180 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 22, 2022. The figures do not specify killed or wounded, though the overall consensus is that it includes dead, wounded, missing, and captured.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russian authorities have refused to release figures on their army's losses. While some official information was initially published, it has now been over three years since the last time Russia provided any figures, even heavily downplayed ones.
Over the past year, while sustaining heavy losses, Russia has been able to make marginal advances along Ukraine's front line region as it is able to offset its casualties through fresh contract soldiers. Despite past gains, Ukraine's military has allegedly grounded Russia's latest offensive to a halt with Ukrainian forces capturing more territory in February 2026 than Russian forces were able to occupy in the same period.
