Russian losses peaked in January 2023 when the country launched a full-scale offensive in Donetsk. (File)
London:
More than 50,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the conflict in Ukraine, the BBC reported on Wednesday, citing its own reporters, independent media group Mediazona and volunteers.
They found that more than 27,300 Russian soldiers died during the second year of the war, a 25 percent increase over the first year.
BBC Russian, Mediazona and volunteers have been counting deaths since February 2022, using open source information from official reports and the media, as well as satellite images of Russian cemeteries to estimate the number of new graves.
The figure of more than 50,000 is eight times higher than the official death toll that Moscow recognized in September 2022. This does not include deaths among militias in Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine said in February it had lost 31,000 soldiers, but that figure is also likely to be significantly lower than the actual number of dead.
Russian losses peaked in January 2023 when it launched a full-scale offensive in Donetsk and again months later last year during the battle for the city of Bakhmut.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” at dawn on February 24, 2022, which has since turned into a bloody and exhausting war, isolating Russia from the Western world.
Responding to the report, the Kremlin said it has not released any information on military deaths and casualties, which falls under the purview of the Defense Ministry.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added official secrecy laws, and laws relating to what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, meant it was “absolutely understandable” the ministry did not release the figures.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
