Over 225,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine identified by media investigation

Russian independent media outlet Mediazona, in collaboration with the BBC Russian service, has confirmed the identities of 225,019 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine.

Since the media outlets' last update in late May, the names of 3,813 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 82,400 volunteers, 25,400 recruited prisoners, and 19,000 mobilized soldiers, according to the media outlets. A total of 7,226 officers have also been confirmed to have been killed.

The Kyiv Independent cannot independently verify the reporting.

While casualty estimates have varied, independent Western assessments have consistently concluded that Russian losses significantly exceed Ukrainian casualties.

The Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a January 2026 report that Russian casualties were roughly double to 2.5 times greater than Ukraine's losses. While President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested in an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the rate compared to Ukrainian losses amounts to "one to five or one to six."

The head of the United Kingdom's intelligence, cyber and security agency, Anne Keast-Butler, said on May 27 that nearly 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine.

Russian media outlets Mediazona and Meduza also released their own estimates in early May suggesting that 352,000 Russian men between the ages of 18 and 59 have been killed since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

At its current rate, President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this year that Russian soldiers upwards of 35,000 losses per month. Commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi also reported that more than 83,000 Russian were killed in 2026, as of May 20.

The latest casualty estimates comes as Ukraine has gained the upper hand on the battlefield in recent months, with Kyiv's forces recapturing nearly 100 square kilometers more territory than they lost along the front line in May.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russian authorities have refused to release figures on their army's losses. While Zelensky said in February that at least 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed on the battlefield since the start of Russia's full-scale war.

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces estimates that as of June 12, Russia has lost around 1,380,120 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.