What is known about Russia's losses in Ukraine by the end of August?

56% of all those killed are volunteers, mobilized personnel, and convicts who went to fight from places of detention, i.e., people not connected to the army at the start of the war.

The average age of those killed on the list is now 38 years. This is 13 years older than in the first months of the invasion.

During that period, main operations were carried out by elite units, which included young people who had undergone intensive training.

Currently, the main source of army replenishment consists of people coming into the military from civilian life and ending up on the front after short training.

Volunteers are currently the most "aged" category among the dead. Among those who recently signed a contract, men aged 42-45 are most often killed. At the same time, 2,776 deceased volunteers were over 60 years old.

Also, 6,435 men under the age of 24 died in the war.

This age distribution reflects the evolution of the Russian army's recruitment mechanism.

After the politically painful mobilization of 2022, the authorities relied on monetary payments and decentralized recruitment of contract soldiers through the regions. This system long allowed Russian authorities to compensate for army losses without announcing a new wave of mobilization.

Main Trends

Volunteers now account for 36% of all confirmed losses.

The proportion of convicts continues to decrease: they now account for 11% of all fatalities, although in 2023, every fifth fatality was recruited for the war from places of detention.

However, the reduction in the proportion of convicts does not mean that the Russian army has become less frequent in recruiting people through the penitentiary system. Since 2024, there has been an opportunity to sign a contract even before trial: for an accused person, this becomes a way to avoid a possible prison sentence. However, there are known cases where accused persons made the decision to go to the front under pressure – including through fear of receiving a harsh sentence or not being able to withstand the system's pressure in places of detention.

In these statistics, such military personnel are counted as volunteers, as they were not yet convicted or serving a sentence at the time of signing the contract.

Mobilized personnel on the list currently account for about 8% of all fatalities. This group is noticeably younger than the others: the average age of those killed here is 32 years. Almost half of them (42%) died in the first year after the announcement of partial mobilization in autumn 2022, which has formally not yet been completed.

Data analysis shows that contracts are most often signed by residents of small towns and villages, where stable and well-paid jobs are scarce, and local authorities' propaganda can be more persistent than in large cities.

Over the years of the invasion, Russia has lost more than 7,642 officers killed, with 77% of them being junior commanders. It is junior officers (in ranks from junior lieutenant to captain) who play a key role in combat conditions, providing communication between the main body of soldiers and commanders responsible for planning operations.

What are the real casualty figures?

The real losses of the Russian side are greater than the number of fatalities whose names can be confirmed through open sources.

According to military experts, the results of our analysis of Russian cemeteries, military memorials, and obituaries may cover between 45% and 55% of the actual number of fatalities.

Not all deaths are reported publicly. Moreover, the bodies of a significant number of servicemen who died in recent months still remain on the battlefield. Attempts to evacuate them are associated with serious danger for the living — primarily due to the threat of drone strikes.

Based on expert estimates, the actual number of fatalities on the Russian side could range from 438,342 to 535,751 people.

The total figure becomes significantly higher when accounting for those who fought against Ukraine as part of units from the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR, as well as the losses of North Korean units that fought in Russia's Kursk region.

An analysis of obituaries and 2022 publications about missing fighters from the LPR and DPR suggests that by the end of 2022, 21,000–23,500 people had died.

Having studied satellite images and official photographs of a new military memorial for the fallen, built in the DPRK, the BBC's Korean service identified the names of 2,304 Korean soldiers who fought on the side of Russian forces and died in 2024-2025.

Thus, according to the collected data, the cumulative losses of pro-Russian forces could range from 461,646 to 561,555 servicemen.

Ukraine last reported its losses in February 2026. At that time, President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the deaths of 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers and officers. Western experts believe that the casualty figure provided by Zelensky is likely underestimated.

A named list of Ukrainian losses based on open sources is maintained by the anonymous website Ukraine losses — it currently contains 103,418 names of deceased servicemen.

Ukraine losses also indicates that, including publications about missing personnel, the total number of deceased servicemen on the Ukrainian side could reach 212,974 people.

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