A generation is coming to an end… Based on data from open sources collected by journalists of the BBC Russian Service in collaboration with the Mediazona website and a group of volunteers, from the start of the war in Ukraine to the present day the names of 56,453 Russian military personnel have been identified who were killed in war, but there are estimates for more than twice as many dead.

In particular, weekly Russian casualty indicators are rising again, which may be due to the continued offensive of Russian forces in the direction of Kharkiv.

In the previous two weeks the death was confirmed another 1,689 Russians.

14% of dead Russians who have been identified were volunteers, meaning they joined the armed forces after the invasion and signed contracts with the military of their own accord. 12% were in the military.

The greatest losses are recorded among the prisoners, who went to the front from the prison colonies. This category accounts for 20% of the Russian side’s losses.

THE actual number of casualties is higher from the number recorded based on open sources: announcements by officials and the media, social media posts by relatives and information from cemeteries.

In the category of volunteers, increasing losses are recorded during this period.

From the fall of 2023, such an increase is observed. Since October the weekly loss of volunteers has not been below 75 people per week. In the last two weeks, 252 volunteers have been confirmed dead. These losses are due to the fact that a large part of those who recently signed contracts are aged 40-49. The names of 94 people over the age of 60 were also identified. The oldest volunteer, Mikhail Suvalov, was 71 years old.

Since the start of the invasion, Russia has lost 3,630 officers in Ukraine, including 421 who held the rank of colonel and above.

Among the dead officers, military pilots stand out, who are unique and are the elite units of every army. Training a fighter pilot can take 15-17 years and cost up to 12-14 million dollars.

In two years Russia has lost at least 245 air force pilots (including navigators and flight engineers). Of these 80% are crew losses.

At least 16 of the pilots who were killed were over 50 years of age. It is known that some of them should have retired some years ago.

The 56,452 dead Russian military are the casualties identified based on open sources.

The actual number of Russian dead (without taking into account the military from the regions of the so-called autonomous republics of Donetsk and Lugansk) it may be double. We came to this conclusion, writes the Russian service of the BBC, by systematically studying the situation in the cemeteries of 70 populated areas throughout Russia.

Hence the actual number of Russians killed it may exceed 113,000, without taking into account the losses of separatist units. In these areas, according to the data up to the end of November, an additional 23,500 could have been killed, the survey says. This number brings the total number of casualties down to 136,500 dead.