Journalists confirm deaths of more than 28,000 Russian service members in Ukraine war

At least 28,652 Russian service members have died since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022, BBC in Russian and Mediazone journalists discovered after analysing open data sources.

The increase in this death toll is slowing down, the reporters note. In the past four weeks, they managed to identify 1,800 people. Some of these obituaries date back to the Bakhmut assault operation, while the rest are the latest losses.

The journalists also indirectly confirm claims of OSINT-analysts about high losses among the ranks of Russian artillery and missile launchers in light of Ukraine’s counter-offensive in the Zaporizhzhia region. The number of deaths among artillery forces grew faster than usual in the past month.

Moreover, at least 17 officers with ranks starting at lieutenant colonel and higher died in the past month. Among others, the death of deputy commander of the Southern Military District, Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov in a Storm Shadow missile attack on Berdyansk on 11 July was confirmed. This is the first Russian army lieutenant general who died in the Ukraine war.

In early June, IStories assessed the Russian army losses in the Ukraine as 18,000 people at the lowest, based on Rosstat data.

In late June, the To Be Precise project noted that the number of people who died from external reasons in 2022 — 7,000 people — approximately corresponds to the Russian Defence Ministry’s assessment of its Ukraine losses. According to the agency data published in September 2022, 5,937 people died at that time.