Independent newspaper estimates that 66,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine

Mediazona together with the BBC have used open sources to register Russian soldiers who have been reported dead. In the last four weeks alone, the number of fallen Russian soldiers has increased by over 4,600, according to the Independent Russian website.

Mediazona emphasizes that the number is most likely higher as many Russian soldier deaths are not made public.

Journalist Anastasia Aleksejeva points out that the latest death tolls do not include casualties from the Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region of Russia or the recent Russian advance in eastern Ukraine.

– It is because the investigators are still working on going through logs and lists of reported deaths, she says.

Mediazona and the BBC, together with volunteers, have calculated Russian soldier deaths since February 2022. They have used open sources such as official reports and messages in the Russian media. But satellite images from Russian burial sites have also been used to count new graves.

The Russian authorities are very tight-lipped about losses in what is referred to as “a military special operation”. In September 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that 5,937 soldiers had been killed in action.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in February this year that around 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed during the first two years of the war.