According to data collected by the BBC, the Russian publication "Mediazona" and volunteers based on open sources, the names of 120,343 Russian servicemen who died during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine have been identified. In the last year alone, the share of volunteers among the dead has increased significantly - from 14% in 2023 to 27% in 2025, which makes up almost every third of those killed.
The average age of the dead as of mid-2025 is 39 years old, while at the beginning of the war, 21-year-old contract soldiers were the most common victims.
More than half of the dead (53%) were people who had no professional military training - volunteers, mobilized and prisoners recruited from colonies. The typical profile of the dead volunteers today includes men aged between 45 and 60, often from rural areas and small towns who had not had any contact with the army in recent decades.
Among them are also people who signed contracts under pressure - including due to concerns for the safety of their family or to avoid criminal prosecution. In 2024, laws were passed in Russia that allow convicted persons to join the army instead of serving their sentences. However, the majority of volunteers go to the front of their own free will, often motivated by promised federal and regional bonuses amounting to around 1.5 million rubles (about 31,500 BGN).
Bashkortostan continues to be the region with the highest number of confirmed casualties - at least 5,806 people, according to verified names. Eight out of every ten dead from this republic were sent to the front from villages or small towns.
According to the analysis, 15% of all confirmed dead were prisoners, and 11% were mobilized.
Experts say the real number of victims is likely to be significantly higher. Estimates suggest that the list of confirmed names covers between 45% and 65% of the actual number of dead. This is also due to the fact that many bodies remain on the battlefield for weeks, because their withdrawal poses risks for the remaining soldiers.
If the dead from the military formations of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics are also included, whose data is published less and less frequently, the total number of dead on the pro-Russian side could vary between 206,000 and 291,000 people.
Journalistic teams continue to update the lists of the dead every two weeks, using data from official sources, social networks, obituaries and photos of graves.