Losses suffered by Russia in the war in Ukraine have risen faster in the past 10 months than at any time since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, according to an analysis by the BBC.
Russian soldiers launch a drone PHOTO Profimedia
Amid the intensification of peace efforts in 2025, under pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump, about 40% more obituaries of soldiers were published in Russian sources than in the same period of the previous year.
BBC News Russian, which monitors Russian casualties alongside the independent publication Mediazona and a group of volunteers, has so far confirmed the names of nearly 160,000 Russian soldiers killed in the fighting in Ukraine. The publication states, however, that the real figure is likely to be much higher, with estimates by military experts indicating that the confirmed data would represent only 45–65% of the total. Thus, the actual death toll could range between 243,000 and 352,000.
The analysis is based on official reports, local press, social media, memorials and newly discovered graves. Although the number of obituaries is a preliminary estimate, it reflects the evolution of the intensity of the fighting over time.
After a relatively quiet start to 2025, obituaries surged in February with the first direct talks between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on ending the war. A new peak was recorded in August, in the context of the meeting of the two leaders in Alaska, and in October and November – amid the postponement of a second summit and the presentation of a US peace proposal – an average of 322 obituaries were published per day, twice the 2024 average.
The increase in losses cannot be attributed to a single factor, but the Kremlin believes that territorial advances may influence negotiations with the United States. Presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov recently stated that “recent successes” of the Russian army had a positive impact.
According to NATO, Russia has recorded approximately 1.1 million dead and wounded since the beginning of the war, of which approximately 250,000 are said to have died. The BBC notes that its estimates do not include fighters killed in militias in the two occupied Ukrainian regions, whose numbers are estimated at between 21,000 and 23,500.
And Ukraine suffered significant losses. President Volodymyr Zelensky said last February that 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 380,000 wounded, adding that tens of thousands were missing or in captivity. Based on several estimates, the total number of Ukrainians killed could reach around 140,000.
