Russian casualties in Ukraine. Mediazona count, updated

Since the last update on November 18, 503 more names were added to our list. 104 of the dead, or 1 in 5, are mobilised men: reports about their deaths indicate that they were enlisted as a result of Vladimir Putin’s September mobilisation decree.

Since the start of the mobilisation, at least 363 recruits were confirmed dead. In 90 cases, the place of their death is listed indicating that the Kherson region continues to be fiercely contested (22 cases).

At least one mobilised soldier died there after Russian withdrawal from the right bank of the Dnieper river: Nikolai Poletaev, 33, died in the Kherson region on November 18.

Reports about deaths of mobilised soldiers keep coming from the Luhansk region and the Svatove area (21 cases). These numbers will most likely continue to grow: the fighting there is particularly brutal, and some bodies are impossible to recover at this point.

Moreover, reports keep coming in about heavy Marine losses near Pavlivka, a village withstanding assault since early November: six deaths of soldiers from the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade are confirmed. This number is likely to grow as well. Overall, we’ve been able to identify 11 soldiers killed in the Pavlivka area: apart from the Marines, there’s one volunteer, two mobilised soldiers, a corporal of the Strategic Rocket Forces, and one fighter of the army intelligence special forces.

On December 1, it was reported that a plaque in memory of Sergey Obukhov was installed in a school in the village of Shileshka, Ivanovo region. He died in a shootout with FSB officers in Kherson in June. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the officers reprimanded drunk soldiers on their behaviour. In response, Obukhov fired a shot at the ground, and his fellow serviceman started spraying from his Kalashnikov. Obukhov and two FSB officers died on the spot. The other soldier and one of the FSB officers ended up at the hospital.

In a news piece about Obukhov’s death, 168.ru, an Ivanovo news media, claimed he “sacrificed his life to save his brothers-in-arms—his act of valour allowed them to break out of encirclement.” More details of the incident can be found here.

From November 18 to December 2, seven more deaths of high-ranking officers were confirmed; overall, 172 are dead from the start of the war.

High-ranking officer deaths identified over two weeks

What we know about the casualties

Most of those killed in action come from Dagestan, Buryatia, Sverdlovsk region, and Bashkiria. Unusually high number of casualty reports from Krasnodar Krai can be attributed to local volunteers’ frequent visits to the cemeteries to photograph new graves, so a greater number of casualties becomes public knowledge.

This is how the casualties are distributed across the Russian regions. These are absolute figures, no adjustments to the population of the region or number of military units station there have been made.

You can choose between the total amount of casualties and a breakdown by army branch, as well as see where the mobilised soldiers who were killed came from.

In the majority of cases, a fallen serviceman’s branch is either listed on the death report, or can be identified from the uniform and insignia on their photos.

Mobilised soldiers and volunteers do not have separate branches, but we indicated them separately to allow for comparisons to regular military personnel. Here’s how the deaths are distributed across army branches.

Volunteer units have been sustaining the heaviest casualties since the summer as opposed to death tolls from February and the spring: in the first weeks, the Airborne forces suffered heaviest losses, the Motorised rifle forces followed suit. A large number of those killed in action with no branch identified were volunteer fighters.

104 military pilots are known to have been killed. The loss of pilots is particularly painful for the army: it takes 7–8 years to train one first-class frontline pilot, and costs about $3.4 million. The loss of each pilot also means the loss of expensive equipment.

By December 2 we’ve been able to confirm deaths of at least 1,462 officers. 172 of them had the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel or higher.

Officers killed in Ukraine

As of today, only two deputy commanders of the armies have been officially confirmed as killed: Major General Andrey Sukhovetsky of the 41st Army, and Major General Vladimir Frolov of the 8th Army. Retired Major General Kanamat Botashev, 63, was killed in late May; former fighter pilot had likely volunteered to rejoin the Armed forces. Another Major General, Roman Kutuzov, was reported dead on June 5; deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Captain 1st Rank Andrey Paliy, is also among the casualties.

The date of the deaths is provided in almost 7,000 reports. The number of casualties per day according to this data is a poor reflection of the real picture, but it does suggest which days saw the most intensive fighting. 

It also has to be mentioned that the latest data is likely incomplete, further updates may introduce significant changes.

Nearly 7,600 reports mention the age of the deceased. In the regular military units, the 21–23-year-old bracket saw the highest number of deaths. Volunteer and mobilised fighters are considerably older. Generally, men who go to war as volunteers are aged 30–35 and older, and the majority of mobilised soldiers are older than 25.