1. How many mil personnel did Russia loose during its invasion into Ukraine? I keep getting this question, because BBC and Mediazona keeps building name by name list of KIA. Here are our figures, analysis and math behind them (thread)
2.We used open source info to establish names of 63,154 Rus.soldiers KIA in Ukraine. 48% had no affiliation with armed forces at the time the fighting began. At least 159 were conscripts, ie 18-21 year-olds doing national service and not trained for war. But what r real figures?
Jun 10 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner group lost over 17 000 fighters recruited from prisons in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a new investigation by the BBC and @mediazona_en has discovered.This constitutes almost 90% of group’s overall losses during that campaign (thread)
During recruitment campaigns in Russian prisons Prigozhin had always promised that recruited prisoners would be treated as equals, and not as second-class people. And officially while admitting that he lost 20,000 men in Bakhmut, he emphasised that only 50% of them were prisoners
Apr 14, 2023 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
Important milestone - @bbcrussian, @mediazzzona and a group of volunteers confirmed names of 20 451 Russian combatants KIA in Ukraine. 33% of these people were civilians before the invasion – volunteers, mobilized, prisoners and newly recruited members of Wagner PMC.🧵
We include only cases that we have been able to verify, so collected data does not reflect the full extent of KIA. We think that our list contains 50% fewer names than the actual number of soldiers that have been buried in Russia (we studied cemeteries in over60 Rus settlements)
Sep 20, 2022 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
Estimates of the Russian soldiers KIA vary greatly. But it’s not only the total number of losses which is important, but also what kind of specialists were killed. BBC established that Russia has over 900 elite specialists, whose training took years of effort, and mlns of $.
Combined armed units of the Russian military have proven unprepared for assault operations. As a result, tasks that are generally assigned to infantrymen have had to be carried out by special forces, marines, and paratroopers.
Aug 24, 2022 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
Russian Ministry of Defence is trying to put a tap on all info about problems of the Russian army in #Ukraine. But dead soldiers keep telling their stories-and that narrative is very different from Moscow is trying to show. Here is what we found. Based on a study of 5700+ cases
BBC's analysis suggests particularly heavy losses among junior officers. Overall, officers constitute 17% of Russian fatalities. But data suggests, that junior officers in particular are 3 times more likely to die than their subordinates.
May 31, 2022 • 18 tweets • 5 min read
What do we know about Russian military losses? June update. BBC keeps compiling a list of Russian soldiers killed in action. It already has 2 times more names that Russian MOD has acknowledged. Thread.
We managed to identify 3052 Russian soldiers who were killed in Ukraine and buried in Russia. Real losses are definitely higher. That's why we also try to examine cemeteries in towns and cities of Russia. Some of them already have separate rows for servicemen killed in Ukraine
Apr 13, 2022 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
What do we know about #Russian army conscripts deployed to #Ukraine? Information about that is very limited and patchy, but here are some facts (guy on the left in this photo- Nikolay Polshikov, Russian conscript, #POW in Ukraine) #RussianUkrainianWar
According to #Russian law a conscript can sign a contract and after 3 months of service. After that service in the army can become his paid job. However even before this war, there were many stories about conscripts allegedly being pressured to sign a contract.
Apr 12, 2022 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
What do we know about background and social position of #Russian soldiers, who are deployed in #Ukraine? BBC analysed publicly available info about 1083 Russian servicemen, who were killed in action. Here are some tendencies were found out. Thread
Regions that reported the highest number of the losses are so called depressed or semi depressed, ie areas with high unemployment and a low standard of living. In Dagestan (93 reported deaths) or Buryatia (53 rep. deaths) it’s very hard to find a job (let alone well paid job)
Apr 11, 2022 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
Putin's spokesman said Russia “have suffered significant losses of troops". BBC was able to verify identities of the 1,083 Russian servicemen killed in Ukraine (they were reported by local officials or media in Russia). So what do we see and know? Thread
Even if we talk about confirmed losses only - there is evidence that Russia has lost some of its best specialists, incl. elite spec. forces operators, highly skilled fighter pilots and some experienced commanders.
Mar 28, 2022 • 26 tweets • 6 min read
What do we definitely know about #Russian military casualties in #Ukraine? BBC in-depth research of verified military losses found some interesting tendencies \1
Roughly 20% of all verified losses are officers. The research was based on analysis of official statements by Russian governors, local media reports, posts by official accounts of universities, schools etc.