War in Ukraine: Russian losses in 13 months exceed 17,000 dead

Based on open sources the BBC managed to identify 17,375 names Russian of soldiers killed in Ukraine. Particularly great are the losses of prisoners who are fighting in Ukraine since at least 1,000 prisoners who had to serve their sentences in Russian prisons have been killed since the beginning of the year.

Over the past two weeks the BBC’s Russian service together with the Mediazona website (in Russia it is recognized as a ‘foreign agent’) and a group of volunteers managed to identify the names of 1,304 fallen, a number far greater than the average for 2022. During the first at the time of the Russian invasion, Russian sources each week usually reported 250-300 dead.

“This is only the data that we were able to collect and verify from open sources, which means that the real number of losses is even higher”writes the Russian service of the BBC.

“In mid-March – he continues – we managed to identify the death of 17,375 Russian soldiers. A third of these casualties were those who before the start of the invasion had no connection with the military, i.e. volunteers, conscripts, prison inmates and recently Wagner mercenaries.

“We assume that our list may include at least twice as many names of the fallen than those buried in Russia. We came to this conclusion by recording the situation in cemeteries in more than 65 populated areas of Russia during the last 13 months.”

Therefore, according to the most conservative estimates, during the invasion Russia may have 35,000 dead in Ukraine.

Irreparable losses may reach 157,000 people

Also Russia’s irreparable casualties (ie those put out of action due to injury, death or missing) may reach 157,000.

This number is derived based on the observations of the US Center for Military and Naval Analysis, according to which for every dead Russian soldier during the war there are an average of three and a half wounded.

This number does not include those who fought on Russia’s side from the so-called “people’s police” of Donetsk and Lugansk. It is also not possible to determine even approximately the number of soldiers who are missing.

Also from open sources it became known that 1,538 Russian conscripts were killed, 46% of which were killed in the period from January 1.

In the past two weeks alone, more than 400 prisoners have been reported dead. Judging by the obituaries, most of them took part in the battles for Bahamut. In total, the names of 2,092 inmates of Russian prisons who died during hostilities on Ukrainian soil have been identified.

Last week a new mass grave of people who allegedly fought in the ranks of the Wagner mercenary organization was discovered. Near the town of Beryozovsky in the Sverdlovsk region, residents saw 67 new graves. On each of them was a wreath depicting the emblem used by Wagner, as well as wreaths in the colors of the Russian flag with the double-headed eagle.

In a video published by journalists of a local paper it was possible to distinguish the names on eight graves. At least four of those buried turned out to be prisoners serving sentences, including for serious crimes.

According to confirmed figures alone, more than 3,100 of the dead served in the elite forces: soldiers and officers from special forces units (771), paratroopers (1,619), marines (582) and military pilots (128). It took years of training and millions of dollars to train them.