More than 80,000 Russian servicemen confirmed killed in Ukraine, majority of whom were civilians before full-scale war — BBC and Mediazona

Mediazona and BBC News Russian, together with a team of volunteers, have identified the names of 80,973 Russian military personnel killed in the Russia-Ukraine war since February 2022.

More than half of the confirmed deaths (52 percent of total losses) were individuals who were not part of the Russian military at the time of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This includes those who voluntarily signed contracts after the war began. The updated report notes that the "rapid increase in losses" among volunteer soldiers continues.

“Their share of the overall confirmed losses now stands at 22 percent,” BBC News Russian reported. Many of these volunteers die within two to four weeks of being sent to the front lines. For comparison, in November 2023, volunteers accounted for just 14 percent of total confirmed losses among Russian forces.

At the same time, the proportion of losses among convicts recruited to fight has been decreasing. In November 2023, they represented 26 percent of total losses; now, they account for 18 percent.

Since the first day of the full-scale invasion, journalists from Mediazona and BBC News Russian have worked with volunteers to track reports of Russian military deaths using open sources. They emphasize that the actual death toll is higher, as not all casualty reports make it into publicly available sources.