Independent Russian media outlet Mediazona, in collaboration with the BBC Russian Service, reported on Saturday that it had identified more than 66,000 Russian soldiers killed since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Their count, published in a joint investigation and updated as of August 30, 2024, is based on the collection of information from sources such as official statements, publications in the media and social networks, as well as the observation of graves in cemeteries.
“As of August 30, we know the names of 66,471 Russian soldiers killed in the war,” Mediazona said in a statement on Telegram.
In mid-April, these media outlets claimed to have identified more than 50,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine since February 24, 2022. Both outlets warn that their count is not intended to be exhaustive.
In late February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated the number of Ukrainian servicemen killed at 31,000. The Russian military rarely reported its military losses, and these numbers are widely considered to be underestimated.
The Kremlin invokes “the law on state secrets” and “the special regime” to justify the lack of official communication about Russian military losses.
In early June, when questioned on the subject during a meeting with international news agencies, Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to give figures on Russian losses in Ukraine, saying only that they were “less than” Ukrainian losses by “a ratio of one to five.”
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In August 2023, the American newspaper The New York Times, citing American officials, estimated Russian military losses at 120,000 dead.