Based on open data, the BBC Russian Service, together with the Mediazona media outlet, has managed to establish the names of 78,329 Russian occupiers killed during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
❗️This is not an accurate number of Russian losses. It is the minimal amount that was verified by independent sources and that is shown by Russia itself - and Russia does everything it can to hide the amount of Russians killed in the war. Ukrainian and foreign intelligence services estimate the number of killed to be several times larger, and that's not counting the injured Russian soldiers.
However, even the official Russian statistics starts getting very large, and the number of losses Russia recognizes weekly continues to increase.
The rate of increase in the confirmed death toll is now the highest for the entire duration of the war. The figures for September, October, and November exceed last year's figures by one and a half times, and the figures for 2022 more than double.
According to the BBC, the increase in casualties may be the result of the assaults of Vuhledar and Pokrovsk, as well as the gradual confirmation of Russian losses in the Kursk region of Russia.
The greatest number of losses are among volunteers. Since September of this year, the losses of volunteers began to exceed those of other categories of war participants, including prisoners (20% of all identified deaths) and mobilized (13%).
Newly-minted contract soldiers differ significantly from professional military personnel: before being sent to the front, they undergo only minimal training, which lasts in different cases from three to ten days. Even Z-propagandists have begun to point out that many volunteers now die or go missing within 12-18 days of signing a contract.
"Contract signed on 12.09.2024. Sent to the SMO zone on 20.09.2024. Recognized as missing in action on 24.09.2024. Total: 12 days since the contract was signed," Russian Z-blogger Anastasia Kashevarova describes one of the typical cases.
