Russian casualties ‘reach 450,000’: What that means for the Ukraine war

ملخص مفصل

Leaked Russian records reveal a war toll that falls hardest on older men, poorer regions and foreign recruits.

Records leaked from Rosstat, Russia’s state statistics agency, have shown that at least 450,000 Russians, most of them soldiers, died in the war in Ukraine up to August this year.

Among the dead were more than 4,000 foreign citizens who are believed to have died fighting for Russia, from countries including Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Nepal, Colombia and Nigeria.

The records were obtained by two hacking groups, the Belarusian Cyber Partisans and Ukraine’s Silent Crow.

Rosstat confirmed it had been hit by cyberattacks between October 29 and November 1, but said it found no evidence that its databases had been compromised or that protected data leaked.

Deaths can take months, and sometimes years, to be registered, in Russia. Investigations for The Financial Times (FT) have concluded that once late paperwork is counted, the toll up to August will settle at about 550,000.

So what do the leaked records show, and what do they tell us about who is fighting Russia’s war? Here’s what you need to know:

The Cyber Partisans and Silent Crow said on November 1 that they had broken into Rosstat’s network.

The two hacking groups published their own analysis of the records and shared the files with several news organisations, though the data has not been independently verified.

Janis Kluge, an expert on Russia at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, wrote on X: “There is no longer any doubt that the leaked Rosstat database is authentic. You can find any famous person who has died in recent years.”

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