Russian Military Death Toll in Ukraine Exceeds 150,000, Reveals Independent Analysis

Verified military fatalities among Russian troops in Ukraine have reached a minimum of 152,142 since the onset of the full-scale invasion, according to a collaborative tally by BBC Russian and Mediazona.

This count is derived from verified open-source information such as obituaries and court documents and only includes individuals who are Russian citizens. It does not account for fighters from the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics.

The regions of Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, and Sverdlovsk showed the highest confirmed death tolls, with 7,643, 6,599, and 5,386 casualties respectively.

In contrast, Moscow, a city of over 13 million inhabitants, registered 4,520 fatalities, while Chechnya reported 372.

BBC Russian and Mediazona noted that the impact of these losses is disproportionately felt among residents of smaller towns and rural areas.

Approximately 67% of the verified deaths originated from settlements with populations of less than 100,000, which represent less than half of the country’s total population.

Alexei Zakharov, an economist from the University of Chicago, explained to BBC Russian that the rates of casualties are closely linked to the extent to which local budgets rely on federal funding.

Western assessments indicate that Russia’s total losses may far exceed the figures reported by BBC Russian and Mediazona.

British intelligence suggested in June that Russia’s total casualties could be around 1 million, including as many as 250,000 fatalities. They also estimated that irreversible losses—comprising those missing or severely injured—could range between 400,000 and 500,000.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Russia experienced approximately 100,000 troop deaths in the first half of 2025. Former President Donald Trump later claimed there were over 112,000 Russian fatalities since January, in contrast to around 8,000 Ukrainian deaths.

The Economist calculated that Russia may have lost about 31,000 soldiers between May 1 and July 9 alone, predicting that total losses could amount to between 900,000 and 1.3 million, with 190,000 to 350,000 being irreversible casualties.

Similarly, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) provided comparable estimates, suggesting roughly 1 million total Russian casualties, including about 250,000 fatalities and around 400,000 severely injured individuals.