More than 300 Russian officers have been killed in Ukraine, according to publicly available data analyzed by independent news website Mediazona.
The outlet said it had scoured hundreds of official statements, news reports and social media posts on Russian troop deaths since the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.
They found details on 1,744 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, as well as 317 officers. They included two major generals and the deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet.
The numbers outstrip Russia’s latest official casualty figures, which were released by the Defense Ministry in late March. They confirmed 1,351 dead and 3,825 wounded troops.
Analysts attributed the relatively high number of high-ranking soldiers among the casualties to both their physical presence on the battlefield, and the special care taken to repatriate their bodies and report their deaths to the public.
Russia has also lost at least 500 soldiers from its most combat-ready units, such as the marines and special forces, as well as at least 20 pilots, Mediazona reported.
Geographically, Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan reported the most casualties, with 125 of the region’s troops killed in action. Elsewhere, the republic of Buryatia in Siberia reported 85 dead, while the Volgograd region in Russia’s south saw 66 casualties.
Only two out of 85 Russian regions reported no losses.
Mediazona said its tally did not take into account troop losses among eastern Ukraine’s pro-Moscow separatists, who are fighting alongside Russian troops.
Britain’s Defense Minister Ben Wallace estimated Monday that 15,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the war so far.
Ukraine, which has said it will not publish its own military death toll until after the war, places Russian troop losses at more than 20,000.
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