BBC investigation reveals confirmed Russian military deaths

Russia’s defence ministry has released casualty figures only once.

Reports of Russian troop deaths in the invasion vary wildly.

Ukrainian military sources say that so far as many as 15,000 have been killed, though this figure may include injured as well as dead. US intelligence suggests half that number may have died.

Russia’s defence ministry has released casualty figures only once. On 2 March it said 498 servicemen had died and has reported nothing since then.

But now our colleagues at BBC Russian have created a list of 557 confirmed Russian fatalities.

It has been compiled only from reports containing specific information about an individual’s death, including name and rank.

These names have generally come from announcements by officials or media from each serviceman’s local area, or by educational establishments where they previously studied.

The list includes one major-general, seven colonels, one naval captain first rank, nine lieutenant-colonels, 20 majors and 70 junior officers. The rest are non-commissioned officers or privates.