Four years, 200,000 confirmed dead, yet major cities remain ‘largely untouched.’ Mediazona and BBC Russian analyze Russia’s military losses on the full-scale invasion anniversary.
Mediazona and BBC News Russian have identified more than 200,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, the outlets reported on February 24, the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The database of Russian military losses, maintained by journalists and volunteers, now contains the names of 200,186 men. While 35,000 entries were added in the last month alone, the BBC notes that this surge is not due to recent developments at the front. “Over the past month, we’ve been able to compare records gathered over several years against open data from government databases — primarily, with lists from the [national] probate registry,” the publication explains.
Journalists state with a “high degree of certainty” that 2025 was likely the bloodiest year yet for the Russian military. Although 49,935 deaths have been confirmed (compared to more than 83,000 in 2024), the BBC notes that “tens of thousands of obituaries” from 2025 remain unprocessed. Preliminary estimates suggest that once the data is fully analyzed, last year’s death toll could exceed 90,000.
Mediazona also published a geographic analysis of Russia’s losses, which traces roughly 180,000 of the deceased to 26,600 settlements across the country. While 122,700 (68 percent) were from urban areas and 57,200 were from rural communities, the report notes that rural casualties are likely underrepresented due to data gaps. Major metropolitan centers and cities with over a million residents remain “largely untouched” by military losses, Mediazona adds; two-thirds of the deceased lived in small settlements with fewer than 100,000 residents.
The regions with the highest absolute losses are Russia’s Republic of Bashkortostan (7,700 confirmed deaths), Tatarstan (6,800), and the Sverdlovsk region (6,300). However, the Tyva Republic has the highest per capita losses (476 deaths per 100,000 residents), followed by Buryatia (400), Zabaikalsky Krai (362), and the Altai Republic (316).
“Detailed analysis shows that residents of small towns and villages — where stable, well-paid jobs are scarce and local government [recruitment drives] are more aggressive than in major cities — are most likely to sign contracts,” writes BBC News Russian. “The regional distribution of casualties reveals a pattern: the higher the poverty level, the higher the loss rate.”
An anonymous demographer who reviewed the data noted that the Russian regions with high casualty rates largely overlap with those that have lower life expectancy. According to the expert, this suggests that a lack of prospects and a sense that there is “nothing left to lose” are increasingly driving enlistment, rather than poverty alone.
