War in Ukraine: how Russia underwent record losses in 2024

last year was the deadliest for the Russian forces since the start of the large -scale war in Ukraine: at least 45,287 people were killed.

This figure is almost three times higher than that of the first year of the invasion and greatly exceeds the losses of 2023, when the longest and deadliest battle of the war took place in Bakhmut.

At the start of the war, losses occurred by waves during battles for key sites, but 2024 saw the number of deaths increase from month to month as the front line advanced slowly, which allows us to estimate that Russia has lost at least 27 lives for each square kilometer of captured Ukrainian territory.

The Russian BBC service, in collaboration with the independent media Mediazona and a team of volunteers, has processed open source data from Russian cemeteries, military memorials and necrological notices.

To date, we have identified the names of 106,745 Russian soldiers killed during the massive invasion of Ukraine.

The actual number is manifestly much higher. Military experts estimate that our figure could cover between 45 % and 65 % of deaths, between 164,223 and 237,211 people.

February 20, 2024 was the deadliest day for the Russian forces that year.

Among the victims were Aldar Bairov, Igor Babych and Okhunjon Rustamov, who were part of the 36th motorized rifle brigade when four long -range Ukrainian missiles struck a training ground near the city of Voldenvakha, in the occupied region of Donetsk.

They had been ordered to row each other for a medal ceremony. Sixty-five soldiers were killed, including their commander, Colonel Musaev. Dozens of others were injured.

Bairov, 22, originally from Bouriatia, in Eastern Siberia, had studied to become a specialist in food sanitation, but he was enlisted for compulsory military service and then signed a contract to become a professional soldier.

In February 2022, he left to fight in Ukraine and participated in the Battle of Borodyanka during the advance of his brigade to kyiv in March 2022. The city was almost entirely destroyed. Ukrainian sources claim that Russian soldiers participated in the execution of civilians.

Okhunjon Rustamov, 31 years old and from Chita in Siberia, worked as a welder after having carried out a compulsory service period in the special forces. He was mobilized during a partial call in October 2022.

Unlike Rustamov, Igor Babych, 32, volunteered to go to war. He had worked with adults and children with brain motor infirmity, helping them to follow physical therapy until April 2023.

In total, 201 Russian soldiers died that day, according to our data.

A few hours after the striking on the training ground, the Russian Defense Minister of the time, Sergei Shoigu, met Vladimir Putin to inform him of military successes won on the front line.

The attack on the training field was not mentioned and the Ministry of Defense has said nothing in its daily reports.

A parent of Okhunjon Rustamov said that she had already buried three members of her close family during the war. “In December 2022, my husband died on February 10, 2024, my godfather. And on February 20, my half-brother. From one burial to another”.

In our analysis, we favored the exact dates of deaths of the soldiers. If this date was not available, we used the funeral date or the date on which the death was reported.

During the first two years of the war, 2022 and 2023, Russian losses followed a wave -shaped scheme: intense fights with high losses alternated with periods of relative calm.

In 2023, for example, most losses occurred between January and March, when Russian forces tried to seize the cities of Vuhledar and Bakhmut in the Oblast of Donetsk.

According to our calculations, Russia lost at least 17,890 soldiers during the first year of the large -scale invasion. This figure does not include the losses of the two supplementary forces of Russia in eastern occupied Ukraine.

In 2023, this figure increased to 37,633.

In 2024, no period showed a significant drop in losses. The bloody battles for Avdiivka and Robotyne were followed by intensified assaults to Pokrovsk and Totretsk.

In August 2024, Russian conscripts were killed when Ukrainian forces crossed the border to enter the Koursk region. For the period alone from August 6 to 13, the number of Russian soldiers killed.

According to Michael Kofman, an eminent American military analyst, the heaviest global losses were however recorded during a slow Russian progression in the east of the country between September and November 2024.

“The tactics used focused on repeated attacks with dispersed assault groups, using small infantry shooting teams, which increased overall losses compared to the land won,” he explained.

After almost two years of intense fighting, the Russian forces seized the Vuhledar logistics center in Donetsk on October 1, 2024.

According to estimates by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), from September to November 2024, the Russian forces seized 2,356 square kilometers in Ukraine.

Even then, Ukrainian forces at the front did not collapse.

This advance cost the life of at least 11,678 Russian soldiers.

Real losses are probably higher. We only took into account soldiers and officers whose names appeared in the necrological notices accessible to the public and whose dates of death or burial were in this period.

Overall, in 2024, according to Isw, Russia captured 4,168 square kilometers of land.

If we assume that our figure of 45,287 confirmed deaths in 2024 represents approximately 40 % of the total number, the total number would be closer to 112,000 deaths last year.

This means that for each square kilometer captured, 27 Russian soldiers were killed, not to mention the injured.

Russia has found ways to reconstruct its exhausted forces.

“Russian recruitment also increased in the second half of 2024 and exceeded Russian losses, which allowed Moscow to generate additional training,” said Michael Kofman.

The unique payments paid to soldiers signing new contracts have been increased in three Russian regions. The combat wages of voluntary soldiers are five to seven times higher than the average salary in most regions.

We also classify in the category of volunteers those who have committed to avoid criminal proceedings, which was authorized by law in 2024.

Volunteers have become the category of victims which increases the fastest in our calculations, representing a quarter of those that we have identified.

In 2023-2024, thousands of volunteers who signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense were sent to the front only 10 to 14 days later. According to experts, such a minimal training will have considerably reduced their chances of survival.

It is in a Russian Republic, the Bachkortostan, that the number of victims is the highest, with 4,836 confirmed deaths. Most of them came from rural areas and 38 % had gone in combat without any military experience.

The single payment for the signing of a contract with the Russian army in UFA is 34 times higher than the average salary of the region, which is 67,575 rubles (600 pounds sterling).

The calculation of deaths from open source data will always be incomplete.

Indeed, the bodies of a large number of soldiers killed in recent months can still be on the battlefield and their recovery presents a risk for soldiers in service.

The actual number of deaths among the Russian forces increases considerably if we include those who fought Ukraine as part of the self -proclaimed popular republics of Donetsk and Louhansk.

An assessment of the necrological notices and the research reports of the combatants who have lost contact suggests that between 21,000 and 23,500 people may have been killed by September 2024.

This would bring the total number of deaths between 185,000 and 260,700 soldiers.

Clarification May 5, 2025: This article has been updated to specify that the figure of 27 losses per km2 is based on an estimate of the number of deaths last year of approximately 112,000.