More Russian troops killed in Ukraine than previously thought, leaked US documents suggest

Between 462,000 and 728,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, injured, or captured in the invasion of Ukraine by mid-June, The Economist reported on July 5, citing leaked documents from the U.S. Defense Department.

These numbers exceed the number of Russian troops who were preparing for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia's losses in Ukraine since 2022 exceed the number of cumulative casualties the country faced in military conflicts since the Second World War.

On July 5, Russian media outlets Meduza and Mediazona published a report indicating that approximately 120,000 Russian troops have been killed since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine's General Staff estimates that the Russian military's personnel losses surpassed 500,000 in late May. This number includes both killed and injured.

For every Russian killed in action, there are about three to four wounded, according to The Economist.

Among those who suffered the most significant losses were Russians aged 35 to 39. During the entire period of the invasion, up to 27,000 people from this age group were killed, according to The Economist's calculations.

Regarding the percentage ratio, the most serious losses were among the Russian male population aged 45 to 49.

"The latest estimates suggest that roughly 2% of all Russian men aged between 20 and 50 may have been either killed or severely wounded in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war," the article said.

Around 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the war, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 25.

The announcement is the first time Zelensky has publicly stated a figure on the death toll of Ukrainian soldiers since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Russia continues to recruit 25,000 to 30,000 new soldiers a month, the New York Times (NYT) reported, citing U.S. officials.

This amount is enough to replenish troops and allows the Russian army to continue to carry out human wave-style attacks, the NYT said.

Mediazona confirms identities of over 58,200 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine

Through open-source research, Mediazona, a Russian independent media outlet, together with BBC Russia, confirmed the names of 58,207 Russian soldiers who had been killed since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Kyiv IndependentOlena Goncharova