by sources in the public domain by June 24, journalists of the Russian BBC service managed to establish the names of 4,010 Russian soldiers who died during the invasion of Ukraine. Citizens of Russia who went to fight voluntarily.
were also included in the list.
Journalists note that the number of dead volunteers “grow rapidly” and are more often reported among them than any other category of military personnel. Every week there are reports of the death of 30-40 volunteers. More than 40% of dead volunteers are people over 45 years old (half of them are people over 50 years old). This differs significantly from the dynamics of losses among other categories of the Russian military – there are 47% of the set losses in persons aged 18 to 26 years. Before sending to the front, volunteers pass from only three to seven days of preparation on the basis of military units or the University of Special Forces in Chechnya.
Of the 4010 Russian military who died in Ukraine, 188 are senior officers (generals, colonels, lieutenant colonel, major). A total of 689 people – that is, 17% of the established dead – these are officers. BBC connects such losses in the command staff with the structure of the Russian army. By June 24, 20% of all established dead served in the Airborne Forces, another 19% served in motorized rifle troops. Experts note that this may be due to the nature of the military operations that the Russian military now lead. Now the Russians are conducting protracted battles in the territory of Donetsk and Lugansk regions, where Ukraine has a developed system of strong fortified areas. In the list of losses that the BBC managed to confirm, – 150 employees of the Russian Guard, including the fighters of the elite detachments “Vityaz”, “Rosich” and “Typhoon”. Among the dead there are at least 93 fighters of the GRU special forces and two FSB special forces “Alfa”. All these units are considered one of the best in Russia. BBC also reports the death of at least 42 military pilots.
The publication suggests that the list of confirmed losses that it leads may contain at least 40-60% less names of the dead than really buried in Russia. According to intelligence of Great Britain, by mid -June, Russia lost about 20 thousand people in Ukraine. According to the General Staff of Ukraine, the number of dead Russian military exceeded 34 thousand.