#figures #Russian #soldiers #dead #war #world
Ukrainian soldiers near Bachmut.
Photo: SERGEY SHESTAK / EPA / TT / EPA TT NEWS AGENCY
Untrained volunteers, civilians and prisoners are being sent to the front line in Ukraine, BBC analysis shows.
Photo: GAVRIIL GRIGOROV / AP TT NEWS AGENCY
In February this year, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, but US intelligence agencies say the losses are higher than that.
Photo: NICLAS HAMMARSTRÖM
It is the Russian branch of the news channel, BBC Russian, together with the independent Russian site Mediazona that has analyzed the death toll since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The material consists of, among other things, official reports, clippings from newspapers and posts on social media, as well as visits to 70 cemeteries around Russia. In this way they have been able to determine the names of the dead.
And the cemeteries are getting bigger and bigger, satellite images show. At the Bogorodskoye cemetery, southeast of Moscow, new sections have appeared with gravestones that appear to belong to soldiers and officers who fought in Ukraine.
Battles where most were killed
The death toll of 50,000 is eight times as high as the figure Moscow stated in September 2022. The deaths are likely to be much higher than that, the BBC writes.
Certain periods in the statistics stand out. The autumn Russian offensive in Avdijivka led to many deaths, as did the offensive in the Donetsk region in January 2023 and the battle for Bachmut in the spring of 2023.
At least two out of five of those killed in Russia had no connection to the military before the invasion of Ukraine. The more experienced soldiers are likely to be injured or dead, which has led them to have to recruit volunteers, civilians and prisoners who lack combat experience.
Last year, 27,300 soldiers died in the fighting, suggesting that Russian advances in Ukraine are coming at a high price. And several have used the term “meat grinder” to describe the Russian war strategy.
Wagner soldiers survived longer
The analysis shows that the soldiers who were linked to the Wagner group had a greater chance of surviving longer on the battlefield.
The Wagner soldiers survived an average of three months in the field, while the prisoners recruited by the Russian Ministry of Defense survived only two. And several of them died within two weeks on the front line, the analysis shows.
One reason may be that, unlike the Wagner soldiers, they were not allowed to undergo any military training before being sent out. In addition, they are not given leave by Moscow, which means that they have to fight until the war is over or until they die themselves.
Russia has not yet commented on the data.
READ MORE: Putin in talks with Iran: Catastrophic consequences for allREAD MORE: Premium The war in Ukraine April 16READ MORE: Premium Experts: The crisis plan that will stop Putin
