Russia’s war dead tops 70,000, with volunteers the most causalities

Data analysed by the BBC revealed that more than 70,000 people fighting in Russia’s military have now died in Ukraine.

This is the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, volunteers - mostly civilians - who joined the armed forces after the start of the war, are making up the highest number of people killed on the battlefield.

The obituaries, bearing the names and photographs from their funerals are being published across Russia in the media and on social networks every day.

BBC Russian and the independent website Mediazona said they have collated these names, along with names from other open sources, including official reports.

They also cross the hurdle of checking that the information had been shared by authorities or relatives of the deceased - and that they had been identified as dying in the war.

According to report made available, new graves in cemeteries have also helped provide the names of soldiers killed in Ukraine - these are usually marked by flags and wreaths sent by the defence ministry.

70,112 names of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine are disclosed, but the actual number is believed to be considerably higher. Some families do not share details of their relatives’ deaths publicly - and our analysis does not include names we were unable to check, or the deaths of militia in Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

Among them, 13,781 were volunteers - about 20% - and fatalities among volunteers now exceed other categories. Former prisoners, who joined up in return for pardons for their crimes, were previously the highest but they now account for 19% of all confirmed deaths. Mobilised soldiers - citizens called up to fight - account for 13%.

Since October last year, weekly fatalities of volunteers have not dipped below 100 - and, in some weeks, we have recorded more than 310 volunteer deaths.

As for Ukraine - it rarely comments on the scale of its deaths on the battlefield. In February, its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, but estimates based on US intelligence suggest greater losses.