BBC and Mediazona confirm deaths of more than 108,600 Russian soldiers in Ukraine

A team of volunteers and journalists from BBC News Russian and Mediazona has identified the names of 108,608 Russian soldiers who have died in the full-scale war in Ukraine.

The list includes more than 5,000 officers, among them 10 generals and 524 colonels and lieutenant colonels.

BBC News Russian noted that during the first year of the full-scale invasion, officers accounted for about 20 percent of the confirmed casualties. This figure later dropped to 10 percent, and by spring 2025, it fell to just 2–3 percent.

“First of all, this has to do with a shift in tactics — experienced career officers are now being preserved for targeted operations. Second, the main way losses are being replaced is through mass recruitment of volunteers, who serve as rank-and-file soldiers and are dying at far higher rates than commanders,” the journalists behind the project wrote.

One in four of those confirmed dead by BBC News Russian and Mediazona had signed a contract to serve in the Russian army after the war had already begun.