Russia Has Lost More Than 350,000 Soldiers in Ukraine War, New Estimate Finds

An analysis released on Saturday estimates that about 352,000 Russian soldiers had died in the war against Ukraine through the end of 2025. The exiled Russian media outlets Meduza and Mediazona issued the figure on the day of Russia’s annual May 9 parade celebrating victory over Germany in World War II.

The estimate underscores the scale of casualties more than four years after the full-scale invasion began. The war has become Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. The new estimate of Russian dead extrapolates from a database of confirmed soldier deaths that Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service have maintained.

That database now includes nearly 218,000 confirmed names, drawn in part from social media posts and Russian probate records. To reach the total of 352,000 deaths, the outlets examined excess male mortality rates for younger age groups visible in probate records.

They also made inferences about deaths confirmed by courts. The number excludes those who have died on the front this year.

The figure does not include the full scope of deaths among foreign fighters and soldiers who have fought for Russia in militias formed in the occupied Ukrainian territories. A Washington-based think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, estimated in January that as many as 325,000 Russian soldiers and 140,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died in the war as of the end of 2025.

Russia has moved aggressively to conceal the number of soldiers who have died, at times deleting or hiding public data that researchers can use. Ukraine has released its own numbers, but they are far below the estimates of Ukrainian war dead issued by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and other groups.

Facing an acute personnel shortage, Ukraine is seeking to increase the battlefield costs for Russian forces, with a stated aim of raising the number of Russian soldiers killed or severely wounded each month to 50,000 from 30,000. According to its own statistics, Ukraine has not yet made much progress toward that goal.

Russia is developing new approaches to keep the front supplied with soldiers. Among them are a renewed effort to bring in fighters from Africa and other parts of the world, and a push to recruit Russian university students for its growing drone force.

Russia is moving quickly to build out its drone force as a separate branch of the military.