The ongoing conflict initiated by Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion has reportedly claimed the lives of approximately 120,000 Russian troops, as per independent Russian media outlets that reference government data.
This alarming figure translates to an average of 250 fatalities per day since the war's commencement on February 24, 2022.
As reported by Newsweek, Ukraine's defense ministry has been consistent in providing daily updates on Russian troop casualties. As of the last update, the casualty count stood at a staggering 549,840. It's important to note that this figure encompasses both fatalities and injuries sustained in battle. Initially, these estimates were significantly different from those provided by Western sources, but recent months have seen a convergence of figures.
For instance, Leo Docherty, the former British minister of state for the Armed Forces, estimated Russian losses to exceed 450,000 in April. In contrast, a U.S. estimate in December placed the total at 315,000, a figure not far off from Ukraine's tally of 340,650 at the time.
Independent media outlets such as Mediazona and BBC News Russian have been diligent in providing regular counts of identified Russian fatalities. These counts, based on publicly available information like obituaries, social media posts, and regional media reports, stood at 58,207 as of last Friday. However, due to the stringent proof requirements, these figures are considered a significant underestimate.
In a separate effort, Mediazona and Meduza have been providing "flash estimates" of Russian deaths. These estimates are derived from an analysis of inheritance case databases and a comparison of trends with mortality data from Russia's State Statistics Service, the Russian Probate Registry, and obituaries. According to their latest calculations, the project estimates that approximately 120,000 Russian servicemen have died in the war since 2022, with the real number potentially reaching as high as 140,000.
The project's figures indicate a significant increase in Russia's losses in recent months, nearly doubling the average casualty rate from the last three months of 2023, which saw around 120 deaths per day. The current daily death toll is estimated to be between 200 and 250.
The Russian defense ministry, which has not updated its official tally of nearly 6,000 troop deaths since September 2022, has yet to comment on these figures. Detailed casualty figures are not released by either Kyiv or Moscow. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated in February 2024 that the invasion had resulted in the deaths of 31,000 Ukrainian troops, without providing details on the number of wounded.
In contrast, Putin claimed in June that the ratio of "irretrievable losses" between Russia and Ukraine was one to five in Moscow's favor, without substantiating his claim. Battlefield estimates from Ukraine and the U.S. suggest that Russia has suffered significantly more casualties than Kyiv.
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