Shocking figures: How many Russians died in the war in Ukraine?

This is a question that cannot be clearly answered. Russia has only published the death toll once, almost three years ago. In September 2022, the Ministry of Defense announced that just under six thousand soldiers had died since the beginning of the invasion.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for President Putin, in February of this year refused to comment on independent estimates of approximately 95,000 dead, saying he "doesn't know if it's true" and that such data "is the sole responsibility of the Ministry of Defense."

Fines and prison sentences for spreading "disinformation"

Russian authorities consider information about losses a state secret and do not make it public, and since the beginning of the invasion, special laws have been in place that criminalize "spreading false information" about the military. Any publication of the death toll that differs from the official figures, which are not publicly available anyway, is treated as spreading "disinformation about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation".

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Fines and prison sentences of up to 15 years are prescribed. Perhaps the most famous case of application of this law is the journalist Maria Ponomarenko, who was sentenced to six years in prison in 2023 for "spreading false information" about the Russian army.

Writing about the Russian attack on the theater in Mariupol, she published information about civilian casualties and losses of the Russian army. At the beginning of the spring of this year, she received an additional 22 months in prison for "behavior in prison".

Several local journalists and activists have been sentenced to fines or up to five years in prison for publishing the actual number of soldiers killed in their regions using information from local cemeteries, schools or newspaper obituaries.

Ukrainians regularly publish estimates of Russian losses

The Russian service of the BBC and the independent portal Mediazona also use this method. They say they have confirmed the identities of 121,507 dead Russian soldiers by August 13, 2025. This data is based on public sources such as obituaries, social media posts and reports from local authorities.

They estimate that the actual death toll could be between 185,000 and 260,700, including pro-Russian fighters from Donetsk and Luhansk. The Ukrainian side has regularly published estimates of Russian losses since the beginning of the invasion. They claim that total Russian losses (including killed, wounded, captured and missing) have reached one million by August 2025.

They estimate that between 200,000 and 300,000 Russian soldiers died, based on the ratio of dead to wounded (typically 1:3 or 1:4).

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The Ukrainians say the information is based on intelligence, battlefield reports, intercepted communications and analysis of destroyed equipment. However, Western analysts often consider these figures exaggerated because they are part of a propaganda war against the aggressor.

Ukraine itself does not release official data on the number of its soldiers killed during the war with Russia, officially for security reasons and to avoid damaging the nation's morale or providing useful information to the enemy.

Independent Russian media give their assessments

Independent Russian media Meduza and Important Stories (both banned in Russia, operating from abroad) jointly provide estimates of the number of Russian soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine based on research methods, including analysis of public sources, demographic data and statistical models.

In a joint study released in February, on the third anniversary of the invasion, they estimated that between 160,000 and 165,000 Russian soldiers, officers, contract soldiers, conscripts and other combatants had died since the aggression began.

Their assessment is based on a comparison of confirmed death lists compiled by volunteers in Russia itself and data from the Russian State Heritage Register, along with an analysis of male excess mortality.

The study does not include foreign fighters who fought on the Russian side or wounded soldiers. In particular, they highlighted the large number of victims among younger men in Russia, which is supported by data from the statistical office on the decline of the male population aged 20 to 40.

What does the West say?

Western countries and Western media have different, but high, estimates of the number of Russian soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine, based on intelligence data.

The British Ministry of Defense estimated in June 2025 that nearly one million Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded since the beginning of the invasion. Of these, around 250,000 are believed to have died, while total losses (including wounded) exceed 950,000.

The British point out that Russian losses are the largest since World War II, five times greater than the total losses in all Russian and Soviet wars from 1945 to 2022. According to a declassified US intelligence report from December 2023, Russia had by then 315,000 dead and wounded soldiers, permanently incapacitated for combat.

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There has been no official release of the documents since then, but the New York Times, citing US intelligence sources, reported in March 2025 that over 700,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded, with estimates ranging from 200,000 to 250,000 dead.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Guardian, citing US and Western intelligence services, estimated in June this year that Russia had reached one million military casualties, with around 250,000 dead.

These estimates are based on satellite imagery, intercepted communications and field reports. Most Western media estimate that the number of Russian soldiers killed in the offensive is two to three times higher than the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed.

Military analyst: An incredible price for limited success

Stuart Crawford, a military analyst, told the BBC that the number of casualties was huge, but also logical for this type of war of conquest.

"A million casualties seems like an incredible price for the limited successes of Putin's army in Ukraine since February 2022. But perhaps we are looking at that price with Western eyes. For us, the capital of war is in machines and ammunition; for the Russians, it is people, which has always been the case throughout history."

Michael Kofman, an expert on the Russian military, writes in an analysis for the magazine "Foreign Affairs": "Russian losses in Ukraine reflect the brutal reality of a war of attrition. These numbers, although huge, show no signs of stopping the Russian strategy, which relies on mass mobilization and sacrificing manpower for minimal tactical gains."

The "New York Times" estimates that Russia has around 400,000 soldiers on the ground in Ukraine at any given time. This figure includes regular soldiers, mobilized reservists, contract soldiers and pro-Russian militia fighters. Even with all the casualties and Crimea, which was annexed back in 2014, the Russian army managed to occupy less than 20 percent of Ukrainian territory in three and a half years.