Over 400,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine war, leaked data suggests

More than 400,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion nearly five years ago, according to leaked data from Russia's state statistics agency, Rosstat.

The dataset, obtained by Belarusian opposition-linked hacker group Cyber Partisans and Ukrainian hacking collective Silent Crow, contains more than 11 million death certificates. Of these, 412,576 explicitly link deaths to the war through official cause-of-death codes or written references to military operations.

While Rosstat confirmed it had been hacked, it denied that sensitive information was obtained, reported The Guardian.

Janis Kluge, head of the Russia and Eurasia division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said the information appeared authentic.

Kluge warned that the figures could underestimate the actual death toll due to unidentified soldiers, missing personnel and delays in registering deaths. He estimated that the number of Russian soldiers killed could be closer to 500,000.

The data also revealed that poorer and remote regions have suffered disproportionately. In Buryatia, Tuva and Zabaykalsky Krai, war-related deaths accounted for about a third of all deaths among men aged 18 to 49 between the invasion and mid-2024. The corresponding figure in Moscow and St. Petersburg was around 10%.

Some of the deadliest months were recorded in late 2024 and 2025, with more than 15,000 military deaths in several months.

The leak comes as Russian and Ukrainian negotiators prepare to meet in Abu Dhabi for US-brokered peace talks. The discussions are expected to focus on security arrangements, de-escalation and humanitarian issues.

Previous negotiations have made little progress, with Moscow continuing to demand Ukraine's withdrawal from parts of the Donbas region it controls.