Tens of thousands who fight for Russia die unnoticed on the front line in Ukraine

More than 95,000 people fighting for the military in Russia have already been killed as the war in Ukraine enters the fourth year, according to data analyzed by the BBC.

This figure does not include the killed in the militia of the self -proclaimed Donbass Republics, who we believe are between 21,000 and 23,500 fighters.

BBC Russian, Independent Media Group Mediazona and volunteers report the death of February 2022.

The list includes the names of the deceased we checked using information from official reports, newspapers, social media and new monuments and graves. It is believed that the true number of deaths is much higher.

Danil Dudikov, a 21-year-old history student at Donetsk National University, read international relations and enjoyed swimming.

On the first day of the full -scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine, on February 24, 2022, the authorities in the self -proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk forcibly mobilized Daniel and sent him to the Harkyiv area.

Only a month later, on March 25, Daniil disappeared into action. Of the 18 soldiers in his ward, no one returned. 13 were killed and five were captured. Four months later, after an exchange of prisoners, the survivors confirmed that Danil was one of the 13 killed in battle.

Danil's history reflects those of thousands of other residents of the amateur Donetsk and the People's Republics of Luhansk, created in 2014 by Moscow -backed separatists in mostly Russian -speaking parts of Eastern Ukraine.

With the full -scale Russian invasion of 2022, civilians were massively drawn up, often insufficiently trained and poorly equipped before being appointed almost impossible missions. This led to a stunning number of dead and missing soldiers, the fate of which often remains unknown for months or years.

According to our analysis of published obituaries and reports of missing persons from the regions, the greater part of the deaths in the militias of Donbass occurred in the first year of the invasion, a fee comparable to the total number of confirmed Russian military losses for the same period – 25 769 deaths.

But despite many people in the occupied parts of Eastern Ukraine, who have relatives or friends in Russia, they are far less integrated into the everyday life of the country, which makes their losses less “visible” to ordinary Russians.

Another much of the Russian losses are sentenced to prisons.

Ildus Sadikov was 59 years old when he was arrested for stealing a bag at a train station in Moscow. It was the fourth time you were in prison, spending a total of 16 years behind bars for separate penalty sentences.

“They told me,” If you don't want to go back to prison, sign a contract. ” They assured me that at my age I would not be sent to the front, just appointed as an auxiliary role. He remembers speaking as a prisoner of war after being captured by Ukrainian forces in the summer of 2024.

After an exchange of prisoners, he was returned to Russia, where he was again sent to the front lines. This month, Ildus Sadikov was killed in battle.

Currently, the Russian BBC Military Victim Database includes 16 171 convicted criminals hired by criminal struggles. These are just the cases where we could check criminal files through open sources. The actual number of deceased convicted is probably far higher.

By including an analysis of leaking documents from the private military company Wagner Group, we can judge that prisoners can compensate as much as one third of Russia's military victims during the three years of the invasion. Many of these persons lived in correctional facilities, effectively cut off from the broader society, for years.

“The losses are felt most of the segments of Russian society with less resources, be it educational, financial or political,” says Gurna Sharafutidova, director of the Russian Institute at King's College London.

“It seems that the Kremlin has designed it in this way, ensuring that the most privileged sections of society remain largely excluded from the war. Therefore, the recruitment of prisoners and foreign mercenaries.”

“In small towns, people are far more aware of the scale of the victims. The war has affected social groups that are missing not only for protest, but even if they express their views openly. Discussions are limited to private conversations,” she adds.

Only 30% of the Russians had direct exposure to the war, or by fighting it, or family ties with fighters, according to a study of public opinion from the “Chronicles” project in September 2024. The share of Ukrainians who know someone killed or wounded, is almost almost is almost almost he is almost killed or wounded, is almost almost killed or wounded, is almost almost wounded, is almost injured, is almost being He is almost wounded, is almost almost injured, almost is almost, almost early, almost injured, is almost killed or wounded, almost almost injured, almost almost killed or early 80%.

Measuring real support for war in Russia is difficult, as many respondents are afraid to speak honestly. But a study commissioned by the Propa project, supported by the University of Helsinki, found that 43% of the Russians surveyed were openly supported by the invasion.

“Will it be a public attitude towards war if more people personally knew the fallen?” He asks a leading Russian sociologist Victor Wahshtain. “Undoubtedly.”

Russia's actual losses are almost certainly significantly higher than they can reveal open source data. The military analysts we consulted with believe that BBC studies, based on cemeteries, war memorials and obituaries, probably cover only 45% to 65% of the common casualties.

It is added to this, the bodies of many of the killed in recent months may remain on the battlefield, as their extraction requires living soldiers to risk exposure to drones.

Given the assessment above, the true number of Russian military deaths could range from 146,194 to 211,169. If a person adds estimated losses from DPR and LPR forces, the total number of victims in accordance with Russian may vary from 167 194 to 234 669.

Russia last officially reported its military losses in September 2022 and cited less than 6,000 deaths.

Ukraine last updated his victim data in December 2024, when President Volodimir Zelenski acknowledged 43,000 Ukrainian deaths among soldiers and officers. Western analysts believe that this figure is an underestimation.

The Ukraine website losses, which compiles casualties from open sources, currently lists more than 70,400 surnames of Ukrainian soldiers. Our inspection of an arbitrary sample of 400 of them found that the database was reliable.

The Ukrainian victim list is probably more fighter than the Russian equivalent, as the Ukrainian presidential decrees for posthumous military awards remain publicly available. In Russia, such data are classified.

As the war approached, global attention turned to the impetus of the new US administration administration for peace talks. We continue to monitor the activities of the Russian military cemeteries and memorials of war and analyze obituaries that have risen sharply since September last year.