Over the past 10 months, Russian losses in the war with Ukraine have been growing faster than any time since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, BBC analysis suggests.
As peace efforts intensified in 2025 under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, 40% more obituaries of soldiers were published in Russian sources compared with the previous year.
Overall, the BBC has confirmed the names of almost 160,000 people killed fighting on Russia's side in Ukraine. BBC News Russian has been counting these losses together with independent outlet Mediazona and a group of volunteers since February 2022, compiling a list of named individuals whose deaths were verified through official reports and social media.
The actual death toll is believed to be substantially higher, with military experts estimating that the confirmed figures might reflect only 45-65% of total casualties, suggesting an overall death count between 243,000 and 352,000.
In 2025, the trend of increasing Russian military casualties peaked notably during specific months, especially February, following talks between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding a potential end to the war. The rate of obituaries surged to an average of 322 per day by November, representing double the rate from 2024.
The rising losses cannot be attributed to a single cause; however, the Kremlin has begun using territorial gains as leverage in negotiations with the U.S. during this period of rising casualties. Reports describe how local governments entice potential recruits with offers of significant pay-outs, catering to those in financial distress, and advertising in universities.
By October, 336,000 individuals had enlisted in the military that year, with volunteer recruits increasingly outnumbering traditional soldiers. While these new contracts are seen as a means to avoid broader mobilization, they obscure the realities of coercion faced by some individuals.
In a related story, Murat Mukashev, an anti-Putin activist who opposed the war, ultimately signed up for military service while imprisoned on drug charges, believing it would lead to his release before a peace agreement was reached. He perished in combat in June 2025, highlighting how shifting conditions have led many untrained civilians into desperate situations.
As both sides continue to sustain heavy losses, the ongoing conflict has left significant scars, with the BBC's analysis paralleling NATO's estimates of over a million casualties on the Russian side and acknowledges the toll on Ukrainian forces as well, with estimates suggesting losses as high as 140,000.
