Documented deaths of 730 Belarusian citizens on the Russian side
An analysis of Rosstat data suggests that Belarus is involved in the war in Ukraine to a much greater extent than previously thought.
A Russian serviceman an instant before being struck by a drone. Screenshot from a video by Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces
The recruitment of Belarusian citizens for the war is occurring on a scale that would be impossible without the tacit consent of Belarusian state authorities.
This is evidenced by the death toll of Belarusian citizens published by the "Cyber Partisans" following an analysis of databases obtained in a hack of Rosstat by the "Cyber Partisans" and Silent Crow groups. They announced the hack on November 1, 2026.
Earlier this week, information appeared in the media regarding the number of deceased Belarusians — over 1,600 people. That referred to natives of Belarus regardless of citizenship. The present publication deals specifically with citizens of Belarus.
From November 2022 to August 2026, Russian civil registry offices (ZAGS) registered the deaths of 503 Belarusian citizens whose "type of death" field indicated either military operations, nothing at all, or "type of death not established." In the latter case, for some of the deceased, "military operations" was listed among the causes of death, while for others, even this was omitted, but frontline areas were listed as their places of death.
However, this figure is far from complete.
The Cyber Partisans cross-referenced the Rosstat records with a list of deceased Belarusian citizens who fought on the side of the Russian Federation, previously released by the Ukrainian project "I Want to Live". Out of 314 records on that list, only 80 matched the Rosstat data.
The database published by the Ukrainian project is authentic. Every time "Nasha Niva" cross-checked information about a deceased Belarusian known to us against "I Want to Live," it always matched.
Through their own analysis, the Cyber Partisans determined that only 22 people from the "I Want to Live" list could not be verified as Belarusian citizens.
This means there are another 212 (314 minus 80 minus 22) individuals who appear in the "I Want to Live" database but are not found in the Rosstat database. The reasons for this remain unclear. For instance, they might have held dual citizenship.
In any case, the combined total gives us 503 + 212 = 715 people.
In addition, at the end of 2024, the Cyber Partisans reported that they had gained access to data from death records of Belarusian citizens with official causes of death. The obtained data underwent review by independent experts, its authenticity was confirmed, and numerous investigative articles have already been published based on it.
"Among the data obtained, we selected records from 2022 onwards that also mention death from military operations. Thus, we identified another 15 deaths that do not overlap with entries in the Rosstat registry. Spot checks also confirmed that all of these individuals died in military actions on Russia's side," the cyber activists write.
Yet even the total of 715 + 15 = 730 is far from complete.
The Cyber Partisans found that data on those killed in 2026 is currently minimal in the database due to delays in registering deaths.
For 2026, the database currently reflects only about 37,800 fatalities, Bloomberg journalists discovered. The figure is incomplete due to registration backlogs, the publication notes. In the second half of 2023, the median timeframe for registering a military death was about six weeks, whereas in 2025 it exceeded four months. In August 2026 alone, more than 2,500 records appeared in the database for individuals who had died back in 2025, journalists calculated.
Using a mathematical model based on available data, The Economist projected approximately 230,000 Russian fatalities for the entirety of 2026 — more than in any previous year of the war.
Meanwhile, the recruitment of Belarusians for the war has intensified significantly in recent times — throughout 2025 and especially 2026, as manpower shortages mounted for the Russian army.
"A massive gray zone hinders the recovery of bodies from the battlefield, and this affects both sides. <…> To simplify the picture, one could say that data for 2024 is probably already close to complete, for 2025 it is doubtful, and deaths from 2026 will continue to be registered for at least another year and a half. In 2024 and 2025, the front line was still shifting. Recovery teams were still able to collect bodies in areas under consolidated control. Now, however, we see that the front advances only in the fantasies of RIA Novosti and the Ministry of Defense," stated Dmitry Treshchanin to the Belarusian Investigative Center. Treshchanin is an editor at the Russian outlet Mediazona, which jointly with the BBC Russian Service and a team of volunteers tracks Russian military casualties.
Therefore, it can be stated with confidence that the true number of Belarusians killed while serving on the Russian side currently exceeds 1,000 people by a wide margin.
Unlike Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, Belarusian authorities do not penalize mercenaries who sign contracts with the Russian military in any way. Recruiters freely place advertisements in Belarusian chats and channels. Moreover, enlistment in the Russian military is openly promoted even by channels created by active or retired Belarusian security and law enforcement officers, such as "Belorusskiy Silovik".
The number of Belarusians killed in the imperialist war in Ukraine has surpassed the casualty count of the Soviet-Afghan War.
Although domestic media within Belarus remain silent, the tragic reality facing those recruited is obvious to critically thinking people. This is highlighted by a dramatic appeal by a resident of Dubrowna, a Belarusian town near the Russian border. The woman tried to secure the return of her 18-year-old son, who had been lured by recruiters; however, according to her, the Belarusian police told her they could not help in any way "because Maksim has already reached the age of majority."