10,000 names: known about the loss of Russia in Ukraine by December
- Olga Ivshina
- BBC
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On the basis of open data, the BBC managed to establish the names of more than 10,000 Russian servicemen who died in the war in Ukraine. Among them – more than 400 mobilized.
From the first day of the war, the BBC Russian Service because of the list of names of losses of Russian servicemen in connection with the investigation of Mediazon (recognized in Russia as a “media-foreign agent”) and a detachment of volunteers. On December 9, we managed to find information about 10,002 dead soldiers and officers.
We rely only on confirmed cases, so the data collected does not reflect the real level of casualties. We assumed that 40 to 60% fewer names of the dead could be found in our list than actually buried in Russia. We came to such cases by studying the monuments to the military, memorial plaques and phenomena in cemeteries in more than 60 settlements in Russia.
Therefore, according to the most conservative estimate, the number of the Russian army and the National Guard in Ukraine could be more than 20,000 people.
without Russia’s total return losses (that is, the number of those who left the structure due to injury, death or missing) is at least 90,000 people.
This figure is based on an analysis by the US Center for Naval Analysis, according to data on the death of the Navy during the war in Ukraine, there are about 3.5 wounded. This figure does not include those who fought on the side of Russia as part of the “people’s militias” of Donetsk and Lugansk.
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The death of the mobilized
In total, 430 mobilized Russians are known to have died, which is 104 more than two weeks ago.
Of these, we managed to establish the names of 394 people who died in combat operations on the territory. 36 died in Russia – most often due to heart problems, accidents or alcohol abuse*.
Actual mobilized casualties could be significant, with multiple reports of soldiers dying above normal in Australia since October, misstating their status. Because of this, it is sometimes impossible to understand whether a male contract soldier served, went to the front as a volunteer, or was mobilized.
There may be several reasons for significant losses among the mobilized. According to the responses of the mobilized themselves, the main problems are poor coordination, problems with communications and maps, as well as insufficient training of recruits. More details about the reasons for the high casualties among the mobilized are discussed here.
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Regional inequality
By winter, in first place after the return of accidental losses in the Krasnodar Territory (428 dead). At the same time, the death of 40% of those who died in this region was not reported in the media and social networks.
In second place in terms of the number of deaths is Dagestan (363 people), in second place is Buryatia (356 people). For comparison: only 54 dead in the capital, although almost 9% of the Russian population.
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If you look at these numbers, you might get the impression that Russia will be watching the front of a mostly minority. But, having specially studied the data collected by the BBC, the Mediazone and volunteers, sociologists came to the opposite income.
On the one hand, representatives of individual republics go to the front and die there more often than people from “Russian” regions. On the other hand, in absolute terms, most of the dead are Russians.
The high risk of morbidity appears to be the result of regional disparity rather than a political concern. In many parts of Russia where social elevators do not work, military contract service is almost the only way to get a stable income.
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Losses in elite units
Over the past two weeks it became known about the events of 90 military pilots. These are very tangible losses, since sick pilots are piece and elite of any army in the world.
Each combat pilot takes at least ten years to train and doctors dollars.
The elite – the most combat-ready and trained formations of the Russian army and the National Guard – continue to carry. Since the beginning of December, it became known about the meetings of four members of the GRU special forces, including one senior officer.
The loss of a special forces officer can be very sensitive and difficult to replace for the Russian army, experts interviewed by the BBC say. It takes at least four years to train a sample lieutenant. And in order to lead a company, the lieutenant must gain experience and go all the way to the captain, which he collected for about four more years. In total – at least eight years of training, experts say.
In just a month of the war, the GRU special forces lost more than 250 people. Almost every fourth of them is an officer.
The losses that were discovered by the special forces of the Russian Guard were seized – in some cases they exceed – the cumulative losses of the units for 10 years of the war in Chechnya. Special forces began to die more often, as they are systematically used to solve tasks that are unusual for them.
For example, scouts are involved in the search and detection of streets in order to capture certain points, and the National Guardsmen found on completely different operations are involved in combined arms combat operations and defensive operations.
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Deaths of commanders
Of the 10,002 mobile servicemen who died in Ukraine, 1,509 people, i.e. 15%, are officers. Among the dead were four generals and 49 colonels.
A partly increased level of proficiency among appraisers with increased requirements for the actions of high-precision long-range Western-style systems that entered the territorial army of Ukraine. HIMARS missiles repeatedly hit the headquarters and command of the Russian military.
Another reason is the peculiarities of the organization of the Russian armed forces. According to experts, Russia is prone to choice, an acceptable excess of military equipment and an acute shortage of personnel equipment. After all, during the course of the war, commanders were involved in the fighting of soldiers, like sergeants, personally engaged in their attack or detention with them, instead of directing the fighting through subordinates.
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Infantry, landing and contractual
By the tenth month of stock limit stock – 17% – shortfall.
Currently, their share is 12%. In most cases, these are people who voluntarily signed short-term contracts with the Ministry of Defense and the Russian Guard after the start of the war.
One reason for the high casualty among volunteers is insufficient training. Before being sent to the front, hastily brought together detachments often pass only after 3-10 days of preparation.
The proportion of dead paratroopers is gradually decreasing, since at present a large load falls on motorized rifle units (most of the mobilized and volunteers moving just to the infantry units) and PMC detachments, including belligerents and responsible ones.
By December 9, we managed to find out the names of 95 agents who fought in the Russian paramilitary units from a smaller number of dead. According to the “Rus Sitting” Foundation (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia), signed on contractual terms exceeded 20,000 people.
What is known about the losses of the “DNR” and “LNR”?
The total number of casualties in Russia increases significantly if you include in the list those who fought against the “people’s militias” of Donetsk and Lugansk.
On December 2, the authorities of the self-proclaimed DNR recognized the death of 4001 army. In the self-proclaimed LPR, no casualties are reported, but it follows from open sources that more than 1,000 people have been identified.
Even if only these data are taken into account, the total losses of those who fight on the side of Russia will exceed 25 thousand people who died.
Including the wounded, the total loss of pro-Russian forces exceeds 112,500.
According to the United States, if you count the dead and wounded, Russia’s share in the excess exceeded 100,000 people.
The General Staff of Ukraine estimates the loss of Moscow at 93 thousand people. The Russian Ministry of Defense last reported on the loss on September 21, reporting a meeting of 5937 people.
We continue to collect data on the dead. If you would like to share information on this topic, please email [email protected] or contact us via the link.
How do we translate
In Russia, every day more and more new names of the dead and photographs from the funeral are registered. a number of names are called by the heads of Russian regions or representative district administrations, local media and educational institutions where the dead, as well as relatives, previously studied.
The BBC, Mediazona and a team of volunteers are looking into this data and adding it to the list we are keeping with the organization of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
*The names of 22 mobilized Russians sent to the front have been reliably found. Officials also confirmed the death of 14 more Russians, who were not named after them.