The independent Russian website Mediazona in collaboration with the BBC Russian Service reported today that identified more than 66,000 Russians soldiers killed since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Their count, published in a joint report that was finalized on August 30, 2024, comes from the exploitation of specific information, such as official press releases or publications in the media and social networks, as well as from the registration of graves in cemeteries.

In mid-April, the two media outlets reported that they had identified more than 50,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine since February 24, 2022.

Both media warn, however, that their count is not considered complete.

At the end of February, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky estimated the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed to be as high as 31,000, while the Russian military has only reported its military casualties on very rare occasions and these numbers are believed to have been greatly minimized.

The Kremlin cited “the State Secrets Act” and “special status” to justify the lack of official announcement of Russian military casualties.

In early June, when asked about the issue during a meeting with international press agencies, Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to specify Russian losses in Ukraine, saying only that they were “less” than Ukrainian losses.

In August 2023, the American newspaper The New York Times, citing American officials, estimated the losses of the Russian army at 120,000 dead.