Russia’s war losses in Ukraine rise rapidly – BBC
Photo: More than 78 thousand Russian soldiers have died at the front (Getty Images)
The rate of Russian deaths in the war against Ukraine has reached record levels since the war began. Over 78,000 Russian soldiers were killed at the front, according to BBC News.
The calculations by the Russian service of the BBC and Mediazona, in collaboration with a team of volunteers using open-source data, indicate that at least 78,329 Russian soldiers have died since the start of the full-scale invasion.
The agency highlights that the current rate of increase in confirmed deaths at the front is the highest recorded since the war began.
In September, researchers recorded an average of 140 confirmed Russian military deaths per day. In October, this number increased to 152 daily confirmed fatalities. This rate of loss growth is 1.6 times higher than the average daily figures for 2023, and more than twice as high as in 2022.
The increase in losses could be the result of an active offensive by the Russian Armed Forces in the Donetsk region, as well as evidence of Russian losses gradually emerging in the Kursk region.
According to the BBC, the largest number of losses was recorded among volunteers - military personnel who signed a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry after the start of the full-scale invasion.
Their share in the total number of deaths reached 23% of the total number of confirmed losses of the Russian side - 16,551 volunteers. The average age of the dead was 38 years.
However, the BBC cautions that the actual death toll is likely much higher than what open-source data reveals.
"We estimate that our analysis of Russian cemeteries, military memorials, and obituaries may cover only 45% to 65% of the real number of deaths," the BBC stated.
Meanwhile, according to the General Staff of Ukraine, Russia has already lost over 717,000 soldiers in the war against Ukraine. For more details on enemy losses, see the material by RBC-Ukraine.
