As of the morning of Jan. 2, at least 538 mobilized Russian conscripts had died in the past three months, according to BBC Russia, which carries out a name-by-name count of the dead together with Mediazona, a Russian news site.
According to the publication, the average age of the dead is 30-35 years old.
“The actual losses among those mobilized could be much higher, as many reports of soldiers killed in Ukraine since October don’t indicate their status.
So it is sometimes impossible to tell if a person served as a professional soldier, volunteer fighter, or a mobilized conscript, BBC reported, adding that 46 mobilized Russians were killed in the last week alone.
The figure doesn’t include those killed in the Dec. 31 Ukrainian attack on occupied Makiivka in Donetsk Oblast, as their names are not known yet.
Russia's Defense Ministry admitted that 63 people were killed by the strike, while the Ukrainian military said that 400 soldiers were killed and at least 300 more were injured.
BBC reported that 38 mobilized Russian conscripts died on Russian territory before being sent to Ukraine.
The report mentioned heart problems and alcohol abuse at training centers among the most common reasons for their deaths.
By the end of October, Russia had claimed to have mobilized 300,000 conscripts with an average age of 35.
About 80,000 mobilized conscripts have been sent to Ukraine, with nearly half of this number already on the front line, according to Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.
An analysis by Russian independent media outlet Mediazona estimates that approximately 492,000 men have likely been conscripted into the army since Russian dictator Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization” of 300,000 men on Sept. 21.
