Calculations by leading journalists from the Russian service BBC and Mediazona, together with a team of volunteers based on open data, show that since the beginning of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, at least 78,329 Russian soldiers have died at the front.
As the publication notes, the current rate of increase in confirmed frontline deaths has become the highest throughout the war.
In September, researchers recorded an average of 140 confirmed Russian military deaths per day. In October, these numbers rose even more, to 152 confirmed deaths per day. Such growth rates of losses 1.6 times the 2023 daily averageand the data for 2022 is more than double that.
The publication notes that the increase in losses may be the result of an active offensive by the Russian armed forces in the Donetsk region, as well as a confirmation that Russian losses are gradually appearing in the Kursk region.
It should be noted that, according to the BBC, the most losses were recorded among volunteers – military personnel who signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense after the start of a full-scale invasion.
Their share of the total death toll reached 23% of the total number of confirmed losses on the Russian side – 16,551 volunteers. In addition, the average age of those killed is 38 years.
However, the publication noted that the real losses are apparently much higher than can be determined through open sources.
“We estimate that our analysis of Russian cemeteries, war memorials and obituaries may currently cover between 45 and 65% of the true death toll,” adds the BBC.
