Ukraine war latest: Over 239,000 KIA Russian soldiers identified by media investigation

Key developments on Aug. 17:

• Over 239,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine identified by media investigation
• Ukraine's acting police chief reveals scale of draft evasion investigations
• New Russian drone launch pads near Ukraine put NATO countries in range, Telegraph reports
• Russia, North Korea to continue cooperation 'in all sectors,' Putin says on Korean Liberation Day

Russian independent media outlet Mediazona, in collaboration with the BBC Russian service, has confirmed the identities of 239,354 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine.

The latest count covers confirmed military deaths from Feb. 24, 2022, through Aug. 13, 2026.

Among the identified dead are 87,749 volunteers, 26,416 recruited prisoners, and 19,778 mobilized soldiers. A total of 7,530 officers have also been confirmed killed.

The actual figure of deaths is likely significantly higher, as verification is a painstakingly slow process, drawing from sources such as obituaries, social media posts from relatives, local media posts, and statements from local authorities.

Mediazona attributed the reporting lag in part to the increased use of drones and the military changing tactics towards small-unit infiltration attempts, which can result in bodies of the dead being unrecovered for long periods of time, and delayed identification and official death records.

According to the outlets, the date of death is known in 221,500 cases, accounting for 93% of confirmed casualties.

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

On July 31, President Volodymyr Zelensky disclosed estimates revealing that Russian forces had suffered around 1.6 million military casualties since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, including approximately 700,000 killed.

Ukraine's acting police chief reveals scale of draft evasion investigations

Ukraine's National Police has investigated over 20,000 criminal cases of draft evasion since martial law was imposed at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, acting head of the National Police, Maksym Tsutskiridze, told Ukrainian outlet Censor.net in an interview published Aug. 17.

Police have also launched several wide-ranging probes into corruption in Ukraine's controversial regional recruitment centers and military medical commissions, according to Tsutskiridze.

He added that police have received 1.5 million requests from enlistment offices related to locating people suspected of evading mobilization.

Ukraine's conscription services have been a source of widespread controversy, and heavy-handed "busification," and abuse and corruption in the services have frequently caused domestic discontent and been amplified by anti-Ukraine figures abroad.

Tsutskiridze said the National Police have issued 76 heads of regional recruitment centers notifications of suspicion for involvement in various corruption schemes that have allowed individuals to avoid military service.

In one example, an official from a regional recruitment center in Rivne who was also a member of an organized crime network, offered to issue military registration documents with a "mark of unfitness for service and exclusion from military registration," in exchange for a bribe.

In Kherson, officials charged $7,000 per person to falsify records in the state "Oberih" registry, which allowed an otherwise eligible individual to escape military service.

New Russian drone launch pads near Ukraine put NATO countries in range, Telegraph reports

Russia has set up 10 bases with new launch pads for jet-powered drones along its borders with Ukraine and Belarus, bringing NATO countries within their potential range, The Telegraph revealed in an investigation published Aug. 16.

The news comes as Russia has sharply ramped up its use of jet-powered weapons against Ukraine, which are harder to intercept than propeller-powered Shahed-type unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), with Ukraine's Air Force telling the Kyiv Independent that their use increased fivefold in July compared with June.

Using satellite imagery and leaked documents, the publication identified at least 59 newly constructed "launch rails" spread across 10 locations, some repurposed from old military bases and civilian airports, while others were created in the countryside.

Some of the new facilities are positioned so that UAVs launched from them could potentially reach NATO territory, including Poland, Turkey, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Romania, The Telegraph reported, citing an analysis of satellite imagery by drone intelligence firm DroneSec.

Russia, North Korea to continue cooperation 'in all sectors,' Putin says on Korean Liberation Day

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un exchanged messages marking the 81st anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule on Aug. 16, reaffirming the increasingly close relationship between the two countries.

Cooperation between Russia and North Korea would continue "in all the sectors," Putin said in his message, while Kim praised ties that had “carried forward the history of common struggle for justice and precious traditions of friendship,” according to Reuters.

North Korea has become a significant military supporter of Russia’s war in Ukraine, supplying troops, missiles, and artillery ammunition.

Zelensky said in his evening address on Aug. 10 that Russia has already received a shipment of additional ballistic missiles from Pyongyang — the latest development in a deepening military alliance between Moscow and Pyongyang that has included supplies of both arms and troops.

Russian forces have launched North Korean KN-23 and KN-24 short- and medium-range ballistic missiles during attacks against Ukraine.

Zelensky said that North Korean ballistic missiles were used in an Aug. 11 attack on Zaporizhzhia. In late July, a North Korean missile likely killed six family members in Kryvyi Rih.

Ukraine’s president said Russia was preparing to receive another 30,000 North Korean troops. Pyongyang previously sent an estimated 14,000 troops to Russia in 2024, where they fought Ukrainian forces in Kursk Oblast.

Putin and Kim signed their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty in June 2024, including a mutual-defense provision pledging assistance if either country is attacked.