Russian elite forces suffer heavy losses in Ukraine conflict
The Russian BBC service, in collaboration with Mediazona, has confirmed the deaths of over 6,000 soldiers from elite Russian units in Ukraine. These figures reflect the losses since the beginning of the war, and the number of casualties continues to rise.
Since the onset of the war in Ukraine, over 6,000 soldiers from elite Russian units have died. This information was reported by the Russian BBC service, which, along with Mediazona and a team of volunteers, collects this data.
The elite units experienced the most significant losses early in the conflict. By September 2022, the deaths of 900 soldiers had been confirmed, and by the beginning of 2025, this number had increased to 6,083 individuals.
They identified over 88,000 of Putin's soldiers
The analysis covers only professional military personnel from the airborne forces, marine corps, special units of the Ministry of Defence, the Russian Guard, and military pilots. In total, based on publicly available data, the names of 88,055 Russian soldiers who died during the attack on Ukraine have been identified.
The BBC and the Mediazona team use open sources like obituaries, press articles, and cemetery records to confirm deaths. These data reveal the extent of losses suffered by elite Russian units in the ongoing conflict.
Observers estimate that Ukrainians continue to defend vigorously, becoming an increasingly active force. Russian reserves are not sufficient to break this resistance.
