Over the past 10 months, Russian casualties in the war with Ukraine have risen faster than at any time since the large-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022, according to a BBC analysis, which puts the figure for the period analyzed at around 160,000 confirmed soldier deaths. But taking into account that the experts’ estimates are approximately 50% higher than the verified deaths, the British broadcaster recalls, the estimated total number of Russian soldiers who died in these ten months would be somewhere between 243,000 and 352,000: more or less in line with NATO calculations, although the BBC’s list does not include those killed in service in the militias of two occupied regions in eastern Ukraine, estimated at between 21,000 and 23,500 fighters. In the figures published daily by the Ukrainian armed forces, the Russians have recorded 1 million and almost 207 thousand losses since February 2022, in the bulletin updated to date, but that figure does not only add, without distinguishing, the Russian soldiers killed and those wounded or otherwise out of combat and has no real confirmation. BBC News Russian has been counting Russian losses in the war together with the independent broadcaster Mediazona and a group of volunteers since February 2022 and claims to maintain a list of real names, whose deaths we have been able to confirm using official reports, newspapers, social media and new memorials and even graves. “As peace efforts intensified in 2025 under pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump, 40% more obituaries were published in Russian sources than in the previous year. According to deputy head of the National Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, 336,000 people had enlisted by October 2018, well over 30,000 per month. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that every month 25,000 Russian soldiers killed. If both figures are correct, Russia continues to recruit more soldiers than it loses. As for the Ukrainian camp, which usually does not provide figures on its own losses, last February Volodymyr Zelensky estimated the battlefield losses at 46,000 and tens of thousands of others are missing in action or held prisoner, Zelensky added cross-referenced, we believe that the number of Ukrainians killed so far is around 140,000”, writes BBC.
