Mediazona confirms identities of over 34,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine.

Through open source research, Mediazona, a Russian independent media outlet, together with BBC Russia, confirmed the names of 34, 857 Russian soldiers who had been killed since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The media organizations carry out a name-by-name count of the dead. The journalists specify that the actual figures are likely considerably higher since the information they have verified so far comes from public sources, including obituaries, posts by relatives, news in regional media and reports by local authorities.

Since the media's latest update on October 6, nearly 1,000 names have been added to the list of casualties. Over 1,000 of the total 34,857 died since June 2023 when Ukraine began its counteroffensive. The publication expects to find increasing numbers of recorded deaths near Avdiivka in the coming months where the heaviest fighting is concentrated.

Bakhmut is currently the leading casualties location. Since the last October update, the journalists added four names to the list of officers in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and higher. One of the four names, Alexander Gridnev, reportedly died in the summer of 2022, when Ukraine received the first HIMARS rockets from the United States.

In total, the news outlet was able to confirm the deaths of over 2,600 officers, with 307 holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel or above.

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News Editor

Rachel Amran is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked on the Europe and Central Asia team of Human Rights Watch investigating war crimes in Ukraine.

Rachel holds a master's degree in Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Regional Studies from Columbia University.