Fact-Check: How Many Russian Soldiers Have Died in Ukraine - Updated

Russian Troop Deaths in Ukraine

In his first personal acknowledgment of military losses, President Putin said in a nationally televised address Thursday that families of the dead each would be entitled to a special payment of 5 million rubles, or almost $50,000.

Russian Deaths in Ukraine by War - Updated

*April 2 - NATO has estimated the number of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine since the invasion began at between 7,000 and 15,000.

While securing accurate fatality numbers from a war zone is very difficult, evidence is mounting that the Russian military casualty rate in Ukraine is extremely high.

If that estimate is accurate, it raises a question: Why has a single month of war in Ukraine killed almost as many Russian soldiers as did the Soviet Union's decade-long war in Afghanistan?

Experts say Western democracies have come to expect casualty numbers similar to those generated by U.S. conflicts in the Middle East. Saideman and Maloney said this is a very different kind of war.

-Afghanistan and Iraq have been "low-intensity conflicts.

-Another reason for the large number of casualties is poor Russian strategy.

Losing officers and experienced fighters can undermine troop morale. But poor training, lacklustre logistics and substandard medical support are having a bigger effect on Russia's war effort

*March 26 - More than 1,300 Russian troops have been killed

Russia on Friday released how many of its forces it says have died so far in the month-long war in Ukraine offering, predictably, a far smaller accounting of its battlefield losses than Western powers and Kyiv have estimated.

More than 1,300 Russian troops have been killed during what Russian President Vladimir Putin insists on calling a “special military operation” in Ukraine that began on Feb. 24, according to Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, first deputy chief of the general staff at the Russian Ministry of Defense.

*NATO this week estimated that 7,000 to 15,000 Russians have died this month from fighting. Kyiv on Friday said its accounting puts that number in excess of 16,000.

Snow covers the body of a dead Russian soldier near a highway outside Kharkiv, Ukraine, a day after the invasion began.

*March 21 and 22:

Russia has said it has passed on to the International Committee of the Red Cross "data from more than 500 Ukrainians taken prisoner", and the aggressor country says it has "enough deaths" and is reportedly ready to exchange prisoners of war.

These are the indicative estimates of Russia’s losses as of March 21, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine: 15,000 troops.

A pro-Kremlin tabloid, Komsomolskaya Pravda, on Monday reported that almost 10,000 Russian troops had been killed in the war in Ukraine — before quickly deleting the numbers from the site. The report said that 9,861 Russian troops had died and 16,153 had been injured.

Komsomolskaya Pravda later released a statement claiming it was hacked.

Russia Loss as of March 21

*March 20: The approximate combat losses of the Russian invaders from February 24 to March 20 are 14,700 troops. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said this in a Facebook post, according to Ukrinform.

Russia army also lost 476 tanks, 1,487 armored fighting vehicles, 230 artillery systems, 74 multiple launch rocket systems, 44 air defense systems, 96 aircraft, 118 helicopters, 947 vehicles, three ships/boats, 60 fuel tankers, 21 tactical UAVs, and 12 pieces of special equipment.

*Ukraine has captured hundreds of Russian soldiers since the beginning of the military conflict with Russia, its Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk claimed on Saturday (March 19).

"At present, we officially have 562 prisoners of war of the Russian Federation," she claimed in an interview with television channel TSN. The Russian Ministry of Defense has not yet confirmed the information.

All of the captured Russians are listed on a special register, she stated.

*Russia's Loss - March 19, 2022: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has told his nation that Ukraine suffered "serious losses" in the initial stages of Russia's long-feared attack early on February 24, with an adviser saying at least 40 people had been killed.

Ukraine has claimed to have killed a number of Russian military officers - here's who they are and what their deaths tell us about Russia's operation in the country.

Clockwise from top left: Andrey Sukhovetsky, Andrey Kolesnikov, Oleg Mityaev, Vitalii Gerasimov. Pics: Alamy/@ArmedForcesUkr/TELEGRAM/@PRAVDA_GERASHCHENKO/Ukrainian Ministry of Defence

Who are the Russian major generals and officers that have been killed? There was no confirmation of the death from Russia.

Oleg Mityaev

Ukraine has claimed to have killed Russian Major General Oleg Mityaev during the storming of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol on Tuesday. Major Generals are the lowest of the highest rank in the Russian military, equivalent to the NATO rank of OF-6, or a Brigadier in the British Army. Mityaev, 46, commanded the 150th motorised rifle division and had fought in Syria, Mr Gerashchenko said.

Andrei Sukhovetsky

Ukrainian officials said that Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky was shot and killed by a sniper at the end of February. Major General Sukhovetsky was the deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army.

His death was reported in Russia by a veterans group on the country's social media platform VK. It was subsequently referenced in a speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin, although the Maj Gen was not mentioned by name. He had previously served in the Russian military's campaign in Syria.

Vitaly Gerasimov

The death of Major General Vitaly Gerasimov on 7 March was announced by Ukrainian military intelligence based on an intercepted radio call. He was the first deputy commander of the 41st Army, and was killed outside of Kharkiv, according to a conversation between two FSB officers. He had fought with Russian forces in Syria and Chechnya, and taken part in the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Andrey Kolesnikov

Major General Andrey Kolesnikov, the commander of the of the 29th Combined Arms Army of the Eastern Military District, was killed in fighting over Mariupol on 11 March. Mr Gerashchenko announced his death the following day.

Andrei Zakharov

Colonel Andrei Zakharov, the commander of the 6th Tank Regiment of the 90th Tank Division, was killed near Kyiv, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence. Ukrainian officials again cited an intercepted radio conversation, released alongside a video of an ambush on the tanks, confirming Colonel Sakharov's death.

Konstantin Zizevsky

The death of Konstantin Zizevsky, a Guards Colonel, was reported on Instagram by Mikhail Vedernikov, the governor of the Pskov region in Russia's northwest. He was killed during fighting in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Yuri Agarkov

In the same post on Instagram, Governor Vedernikov reported the death of Guard Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Agarkov. He commanded a motorised rifle regiment, according to a report in the Russian media in Kamyshin.

Dmitry Safronov

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov, the commander of the 61st Separate Marine Brigade, was killed in an operation to liberate the city of Chuhuiv.

Denis Glebov

Lieutenant Denis Glebov, the deputy commander of the 11th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade, was also killed during the liberation of Chuhuiv, according to the Ukrainian defence officials. The Russian news agency TASS said he had posthumously been awarded the Order of Courage.

Magomed Tushaev

General Magomed Tushaev was leading a Chechen special forces column when he was killed near Hostomel. He was the commander of the 141th motorised national guard brigade, and had reportedly been accused of leading a number of homophobic purges in Chechnya.

Vladimir Zhoga

The death of Guards Colonel Vladimir Zhoga was reported on Telegram by Denis Pushilin, the head of the Russian-backed Donetsk People's Republic. He reported the officer had been killed in Volnovakha in eastern Ukraine while "engaged in evacuation of civilians". Guard Colonel Zhoga was the Ukrainian-born commander of the Sparta Separate Reconnaissance Battalion, a separatist force garrisoned in Donetsk.

*As the Russia-Ukraine war entered the fourth week, British military intelligence reported that Russian troops had suffered heavy losses in recent days. This has effectively stalled the Russian invasion on all fronts, it said.

On Thursday, Ukraine reportedly handed over nine captured Russian soldiers in exchange for the freedom of the mayor of Melitopol, a senior Ukrainian official was quoted as saying by the Interfax Ukraine news agency.

*As of Thursday morning, Ukraine's State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection (SSSCIP) was claiming a total of 14,000 Russian troops had been lost. Moscow’s Defence Ministry says that less than 500 soldiers have been killed.

Russia's Loss March 18

*As per reports, Russia’s military has lost more than 7,000 soldiers in the course of three weeks, though Russia has not provided a new update since March 2. While as many as 53 civilians were killed in the bombardment of Chernihiv city over the past 24 hours.

*Until March 11: Between 5,000 and 6,000 Russian troops may have been killed in just the first two weeks of the invasion of Ukraine, a U.S. official estimated.

Thousands of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers are also believed to have been killed over the past two weeks. The U.S. official said 2,000-4,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed.

*As of the 12th day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UN confirmed in a statement on Monday (March 7) it had recorded 406 civilian deaths and 801 injuries as a result of the conflict. Here are some of the Ukrainian people who have died.

* Until March 6, more than 11,000 Russian troops have been killed since Moscow launched an invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the Ukrainian armed forces' general staff said.

Facts About: Russian Troop Deaths in Ukraine

Russian Defense Ministry: 500 Troop Deaths

The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed (until March 2nd), a substantial number of casualties in Ukraine, announcing that 498 Russian troops have died and 1,597 more have been injured.

In Wednesday's release on casualties, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that among Ukrainian troops, 2,870 have been killed, around 3,700 injured and 572 captured since it launched the attack on February 24. Ukrainian officials have not yet commented on the claim and it could not be immediately verified.

There are no Ukrainian numbers to which this claim can be compared. Zelensky's office said at least 30 Ukrainian soldiers died on the first day of the invasion last week. A regional governor relayed news of an additional 70 military deaths on Tuesday, according to AP. Other than those two reports, Ukrainian sources have been reticent to share information about military casualties.

Ukraine: 9,000 Troop Deaths for Russia

Ukraine Russia War Casualties So Far

Zelensky said Wednesday night that roughly 9,000 members of Russia's invading force had been killed since Putin launched his unprovoked war against Ukraine a week ago - CBSNews.

According to Interfax (Ukraine), the Russian army has lost about 9,000 soldiers during its further invasion of Ukraine, the press service of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has said March 3. "The total combat losses of the enemy from February 24 to March 3 are as follows: approximately 9,000 killed in action, tanks - 217 units, armored combat vehicles - 900 units, artillery systems - 90, multiple rocket launchers - 42, air defense systems - 11, aircraft - 30 units (information is being specified ), helicopters - 31 units (information is being specified); automotive equipment – 374 vehicles, light speed boats - 2 units, tanks with anti-tank vehicles - 60, operational-tactical UAVs - - 3.

Russian Defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov on Wednesday also rejected reports about “incalculable losses” among Russian forces as “disinformation.” He assured that families of those killed are receiving all necessary assistance.

The United Nations has recorded at least 752 civilian casualties so far across Ukraine, with 227 killed and 525 injured, including scores of children.

U.S and Western: 1,500 on each side

Western and Ukrainian estimates have far exceeded the newly released Russian tallies, and any numbers remain unverified.

Ukraine has said that the number of Russian troops killed is far higher. Moscow had previously admitted to losses but without giving any numbers.

Ukraine disputes this number. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that nearly 6,000 Russian troops — a figure 12 times higher than that provided by Konashenkov — have been killed since the attack began.

The United Nations human rights office said on Wednesday that it confirmed 227 civilians had been killed and 525 injured in Ukraine through midnight on Monday following Russia's attack of its neighbour.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said that more than 2,000 civilians have died, though it was impossible to verify that claim. The United Nations’ human rights office said on Thursday it had recorded the deaths of 136 civilians, including 13 children, in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion.

At least 1 million have fled their homes to neighboring countries, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Tens of thousands more continue to wait in long lines at the borders, freezing with children and pets in tow, fleeing from a Russian onslaught that the U.S. said on Wednesday looked set to get worse.

Senior Pentagon officials In the US told lawmakers in closed briefings on that Russian and Ukrainian military deaths appeared to be the same, at around 1,500 on each side in the first five days. But they cautioned that the figures — based on satellite imagery, communication intercepts, social media and on-the-ground media reports — were estimates.

For a comparison, nearly 2,500 American troops were killed in Afghanistan over 20 years of war. American officials say, could easily hark back to the 15,000 troops killed when the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Afghanistan, or the thousands killed in Chechnya, NYT reported.

Ukraine Russia War Casualties in 2014 A large number of civilians are being killed during this war. From 23 February 2014 to 19 March 2014, 6 people died in the Russian occupation of Crimea. In there were 3 Protesters and those 2 Protestors were pro-Russian and 1 was pro-Ukraine. There were also two soldiers and a crimean SDF trooper. Two Ukrainians who died in the Battle of Dombos were included in the military death toll. On 10 August 2016, Russia accused Ukraine of raiding in which two Russian soldiers were killed. The provocation report was rejected by Ukraine.

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