The Russian service of the BBC, "Mediazona" and volunteers have identified the names of 285,023 Russian servicemen who died since the start of the large-scale war in Ukraine.
Modern.az reports, citing the BBC, that the authors of the research state that the real losses are higher. According to military experts, data collected from cemeteries, military memorials, and death announcements may cover approximately 45-55 percent of actual deaths.
Based on the name-by-name list, the heaviest losses were recorded in motorized rifle units. A total of 15,312 servicemen were confirmed dead in the five brigades with the most losses. The 15th and 30th motorized rifle brigades ranked first and second.
The research states that motorized rifle units have borne the main burden of offensive operations since the second half of 2023. Large losses are replaced by the recruitment of new contract servicemen. For example, at least 41 percent of those whose deaths were confirmed in the 30th brigade are volunteers.
The BBC also identified 152 servicemen who were sent back to the front after being returned from captivity and died there. One of them is 28-year-old Timofey Fedotov. He was captured in 2024, then exchanged and returned to Russia. After some time, Fedotov was sent back to the front and died in August 2026.
The research also touched upon the losses of North Korean servicemen fighting on the Russian side. The BBC's Korean service identified the names of 2,304 North Korean servicemen who died in 2024-2025 based on satellite images and official photos of a military memorial.
The authors emphasize that the name-by-name list only includes deaths confirmed by open sources. Since not all deaths are made public, and the bodies of some servicemen remain on the battlefield, the list is not complete.
