The main Russian military cemetery - the federal military memorial "Pantheon of the Defenders of the Fatherland" - is running out of burial places due to the great losses of the Russian army during the war in Ukraine, writes "Novaya Gazeta. Europe “.
The number of burials began to rise sharply after February 24, 2022: if from June 2013 (when the cemetery was opened) to July 2021, 353 burials were made in it, then after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 900 graves appeared only in the sector of burials of those who died on the Ukrainian front.
In 2023, the Ministry of Defense decided to expand the territory of the cemetery by 17 hectares, adding to it a part of the "Pirogovsky" forest park for these purposes. Of the 17 hectares, 10 will be used to expand the territory for military burials, 7 will be allocated to create a municipal cemetery.
Attempts of local residents to protect the forest did not work: on March 21, the Council of Deputies of Mytishti approved changes according to which 17 hectares of the forest park changed its status from “lands of the forest fund“ on “land of specially protected territories and objects”, after which the object passes under the control and protection of the state.
According to the British Ministry of Defense, by the end of April 2024, the Russian army in Ukraine had lost 450 thousand people killed and wounded. This figure does not include the losses among the fighters of private military companies such as Wagner, who hired and threw tens of thousands of prisoners from Russian colonies in “meat attacks”. American intelligence last August estimated Russian losses at 360,000 people, of which 120,000 were killed.
Mediazona and the BBC managed to confirm the death of 50 thousand Russian soldiers. According to them, at least 43% of the dead were not connected to the military at the time of the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, 18% of the confirmed losses were prisoners, 13% were volunteers, 12% were mobilized. It was not possible to determine whether the 28% of military deaths belonged to any group or branch of the military.