The Russian media study is based on media obituaries, messages on social networks from victims’ relatives and local authorities.
Russian journalists have discovered that since the start of Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine, at least 33,236 Russian military personnel have died in the war, including 3,836 who were mobilized. Radio Liberty wrote this on Friday, September 29.
Reportedly, the journalists carried out the calculation based on open data that can be obtained from government reports, published obituaries in newspapers, statements from relatives and acquaintances of the victims who speak about on the death of loved ones in social networks.
It is reported that the losses of the Russian army increased after the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
“According to these data, since the beginning of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in July 2023, at least 2,448 Russian military personnel have been killed, including 234 officers, including two generals and 11 colonels,” the the investigators wrote.
They emphasize that the last time the senior officers of the Russian army suffered such heavy losses was only in the first months of the invasion of Ukraine.
“Every third person who died while repelling the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was mobilized – 681 out of 2,448 identified dead. In total, since February 2022, 3,863 mobilized people have died in the war in Ukraine. Every fifth of of them survived the front less than two months, 60% as of January 1, 2023.” , – the researchers shared the statistics.
It was noted that the greatest losses were in Russian prisoners recruited for the war. Journalists identified the names of 6,215 prisoners who died at the front on September 29, 2023. Moreover, more than 100 of them were citizens of foreign countries, mostly Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
During the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russian paratroopers lost at least 209 soldiers, special forces units of the Ministry of Defense – 23 people, and marine units – 60 people.
Having studied the published obituaries and messages about the search for the so-called “LDNR” members who have not been in contact for a long time, the journalists came to the conclusion that up to 20 thousand military personnel of the self-proclaimed “republic” of Donbass may have died at the end of September.
Journalists note that the figures given only take into account cases where death has been publicly confirmed and when combatant status can be established.
It is noted that the actual losses among those mobilized may be higher.
The Russian Ministry of Defense last reported the total number of casualties on September 21, 2022, reporting 5,937 deaths. After that, the military department reported the dead three more times, confirming the loss of another 162 people.
In June of this year, it became known that the Russian Ministry of Defense appealed to the authorities of a number of regions with a request not to publish obituaries of fallen soldiers. Representatives of Buryatia, Tuva and Khakassia are aware of such requests.
On September 29, the authorities and media of the Krasnodar Territory named the highest number of dead military personnel from the region – 1259.
Let’s recall that on August 4, Putin signed a decree to raise the conscription age from 18 to 30 years from January 1, 2024. The upper limit of the conscription age will move from the current 27 to 30 years, the more lower limit will remain at the same level – 18 years.
As reported, the President of the Russian Federation ordered the former PMC chief of staff Wagner to form volunteer units for the war against Ukraine.
New Correspondent.net on Telegram and WhatsApp. Subscribe to our channels Athletistic and WhatsApp
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.