What we know about Russian losses after three years of the war in Ukraine. 165,000 military deaths and a full list of all known names

In collaboration with the BBC Russian Service and a team of volunteers, we have assembled a named list of losses. Volunteers have been scouring obituaries, media reports and social media to build a comprehensive database of KIA servicemen. This painstaking work, including the verification process, ensures that each loss is carefully recorded, even though many casualties do not appear in official reports.

Despite the challenges inherent in tracking casualties in an active conflict, this joint effort has produced the most detailed record available. To date, our verified count of Russian military losses stands at 95,323. And today we are making the full list available to the public for the first time.

The list allows you to search for KIA soldiers by name, as well as filter them by region, service branch, and rank. Since our database is maintained in Russian, all entries and browsing options are also available in Russian only (at least, for now). It will be updated bi-weekly, as always.

Alongside our individual data collection, we are also conducting an investigation with Meduza to estimate the overall number of losses. By the end of 2024, we assess that Russian casualties have exceeded 165,000.

This method was first introduced in June 2023, in our joint study. Through a combined analysis of our losses list and probate data, we succeeded in estimating the true mortality rate among Russian men.

Russia maintains a public Probate Registry, where notaries record inheritance cases for state-registered assets such as apartments, cars, land, etc. However, not every deceased person is included in the registry, as not everyone leaves inheritable assets.

In 2022, 2023, and 2024 there was a sharp increase in new inheritance cases for men, particularly younger ones. By comparing this surge against long-term trends and the ratio of male to female inheritance cases (female mortality was unaffected by the war), we can determine the number of “excess” inheritance cases.

The next, most challenging step is converting these excess inheritance cases into excess mortality. This is done using a detailed list of casualties. By checking this list against the registry, we can determine how often inheritance cases are opened for deceased individuals from specific social and age groups. For example, if we find that 60% of contract soldiers aged 20 to 24 from the casualty list are in the registry, we infer that the remaining 40% left no inheritance. To account for them, we multiply the number of excess inheritance cases in the period of interest by 1.6.

Our analysis shows that 2024 became the bloodiest year of the war. The number of Russians who died at the front nearly doubles every year: about 20,000 in 2022, about 50,000 in 2023, and close to 100,000 in 2024.