Verified Russian Deaths in Ukraine War Surpass 150K – Independent Tally
Verified Russian military deaths in Ukraine have risen to at least 152,142 since the full-scale invasion, according to a joint count by BBC Russian and Mediazona.
The tally is based on verified open-source reports such as obituaries and court records and includes only Russian citizens. Fighters from the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics are excluded.
The republics of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan and the Sverdlovsk region recorded the highest numbers of confirmed fatalities, with 7,643, 6,599 and 5,386 deaths respectively.
Moscow, a city of over 13 million people, accounted for 4,520 deaths by comparison, while the republic of Chechnya reported 372.
BBC Russian and Mediazona said losses continue to fall disproportionately on residents of small towns and rural areas.
Around 67% of the confirmed dead came from settlements with fewer than 100,000 people. These areas account for less than half the country’s population.
Alexei Zakharov, an economist at the University of Chicago, told BBC Russian that casualty levels strongly correlate with how dependent local budgets are on federal subsidies.
Western estimates suggest Russia’s overall losses are significantly higher than the BBC Russian and Mediazona tally.
British intelligence in June put total Russian casualties at about 1 million, including up to 250,000 killed. Irreversible losses, including those missing or too badly wounded to return to service, likely stood between 400,000 and 500,000, London said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Russia lost around 100,000 troops killed in the first half of 2025. President Donald Trump later said more than 112,000 Russian deaths since January compared with about 8,000 Ukrainian fatalities.
The Economist estimated Russia may have lost around 31,000 troops between May 1 and July 9 alone and that cumulative losses could total 900,000-1.3 million, including 190,000-350,000 irreversible casualties.
The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) provided comparable figures, estimating about 1 million Russian casualties overall, including 250,000 killed and roughly 400,000 severely wounded.
