Through open source research, Mediazona, a Russian independent media outlet, together with BBC Russia, confirmed the names of 49,281 Russian soldiers who had been killed since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Since Mediazona's last update in mid-March, the names of 1,580 Russian soldiers have been added to the list of casualties.
The journalists specify that the actual figures are likely considerably higher since the information they have verified so far comes from public sources, including obituaries, posts by relatives, news in regional media, and reports by local authorities.
Since Russia began its all-out war against Ukraine, over 3,300 officers, with 386 holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel or higher have been killed in combat in Ukraine.
To date, Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov, Russia's deputy commander of the Southern Military District, is the highest-ranking Russian military official to have been killed during the war.
A majority of those killed in action come from Rostov, Sverdlovsk, Bashkiria, Chelyabinsk, as well as the Buryatia republic.
On Feb. 24, in a joint study with independent Russian media outlet Meduza, Mediazona reported that at least 83,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in Russia's war, although total estimates of Russia's casualties since the full-scale invasion vary widely.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg estimated on March 14 that Russia has lost over 350,000 troops in Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.
Stoltenberg's estimates refer to the total number of killed and injured Russian soldiers, and are seemingly in line with estimates made by U.S. officials last month that claim that over 315,000 Russian troops had either been killed or injured so far in the war.
Late last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed for the first time that 180,000 Russians have been killed in war, as opposed to 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers. Zelensky added that the exact amount is unknown and it would only be possible to find out once the territories were liberated.
As of March 29, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces says that Russia lost 440,790 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
Igor Kossov
