Journalists from the Russian service of the BBC and "Mediazona" have identified the names of over 200,000 Russian military personnel who died in Ukraine. The year 2025 has become the deadliest in the entire history of the Russian invasion.
Confirmed Russian losses in Ukraine have exceeded 200,000 people. The Russian service of the BBC and "Mediazona" together with a team of volunteers have identified the names of 200,186 Russian servicemen who died in the war by the 4th anniversary of Russia's armed invasion of Ukraine. Both resources reported this on Tuesday, February 24.
The sharp increase in the database over the past month - by 35,000 records - is explained by journalists not by the situation at the front, but by methodological work. "Over the past month, we managed to match records collected over several years with open data from state databases - primarily, with the lists from the registry of inheritance cases," explains the BBC.
According to journalists' estimates, 2025 is highly likely to have become the deadliest year for the Russian army. The names of 49,935 military personnel who died last year have been confirmed; preliminary estimates, taking into account unprocessed obituaries, exceed 90,000 people.
Geography of losses
Two-thirds of the deceased lived in settlements with a population of less than 100,000 people - large cities and million-plus cities have been "almost untouched by the war." In absolute numbers, the highest losses are in Bashkortostan (7,700), Tatarstan (6,800), and Sverdlovsk Oblast (6,300).
In terms of losses per capita, Tuva ranks first (476 people per 100,000 residents), followed by Buryatia (400), Zabaykalsky Krai (362), and the Republic of Altai (316). These regions are among the poorest in the country. "The higher the level of poverty, the higher, as a rule, the loss rate," conclude the authors of the study.
Social portrait of the deceased
Analysts note a consistent pattern: residents of small towns and villages, where stable jobs are scarce and local authorities' agitation is more persistent, are more likely to go to war. The list of regions with a high share of losses largely coincides with the list of regions with low life expectancy, noted a demographic expert who wished to remain anonymous.
According to his assessment, people signing contracts now are driven not so much by poverty as by a sense of lack of prospects. "In other words, residents of territories where the likelihood of dying a non-natural death is initially high are more willing to go to war," quotes the expert BBC.
