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Over 125,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine identified by media investigation

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Over 125,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine identified by media investigation
Illustrative image: Workers lower the coffin of former Russian Transport Minister, Roman Starovoyt, into the grave during his funeral in Saint Petersburg on July 11, 2025. Russia's former transport minister Roman Starovoyt killed himself, Moscow announced on July 7, 2025, hours after the Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had fired him. Starovoyt, 53, had been Russia's transport minister for a year and was previously the governor of the border Kursk region, where Russia had battled a Ukrainian incursion. (Olga MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty Images)

Russian independent media outlet Mediazona, in collaboration with the BBC Russian service, has confirmed the identities of 125,681 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine.

The publications' latest report covers the period of Feb. 24, 2022 to Aug. 28, 2025. Since it was last updated at the start of August, 4,174 additional Russian military personnel have been confirmed killed.

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, memorial community tree-plantings, regional media reports, statements from local authorities, among other sources.

The reported death toll now includes 34,200 volunteers, 18,100 recruited prisoners, and 13,500 mobilized soldiers, according to the media outlets. Over 5,500 officers have also been confirmed to have been killed.

The updated number of confirmed casualties comes just days after Mediazona, in collaboration with independent Russian outlet Meduza, released a report estimating that an estimated 220,000 Russians have been killed in the country's war against Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the figures.

Moscow and Kyiv rarely officially report their losses. Ukraine estimates that Russia's overall casualties during the full-scale war have surpassed 1 million.

In a briefing to reported on Aug. 12, President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Russian losses are approximately three times greater than that of Ukraine, without specifying the total number of losses suffered.

Despite the heavy losses, Russia has been able to make advances in Donetsk Oblast in Ukraine's east as it is able to offset its casualties through fresh contract soldiers. In turn, Kyiv faces increasingly serious manpower shortages, particularly among infantry units holding the front line.

As of Sept. 4, Ukraine's General Staff estimates that Russia has lost 1,085,410 troops in Ukraine since the start of the war on Feb. 24, 2022. The numbers are largely in-line with estimates made by Western intelligence agencies.

The outlet published the complete list of identified casualties for the first time in February, marking three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to the publication, volunteers manually enter and verify each record to prevent duplicate entries in the database.

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Dmytro Basmat

Senior News Editor

Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.

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