Hacked Rosstat Data Shows Over 400,000 Russian Combat Deaths in Ukraine

Russian government data, hacked and published by cyber activists, shows more than 400,000 Russian combat deaths in Ukraine since the invasion began nearly five years ago, L’Express reported.

The leaked records from Rosstat, the national statistics agency, detail over 11 million death certificates. Of those, 412,576 explicitly linked the deaths to the war, citing combat or the “special military operation,” the outlet said.

Hackers Expose Official Secrets

The data was stolen by “Cyber Partisans,” a group tied to the Belarusian opposition, and “Silent Crow,” a Ukrainian collective. They announced the breach on November 1 and released the information over the following weekend, L’Express reported.

Rosstat confirmed it was hacked but denied that sensitive information was taken. The agency has not released official death tolls since the early months of the invasion, as military casualty information is now classified as a state secret.

This secrecy was established by Vladimir Putin in 2015, when he signed a decree making all information on military losses “a state secret,” whether they occurred “in peacetime, during special operations or in wartime,” L’Express noted.

Confirming a Mounting Toll

The figures from Rosstat align with other estimates of Russian losses. In September, British intelligence assessed the number of Russian soldiers killed since the invasion began at approximately 500,000, The Guardian reported.

The independent media outlet Mediazona, by contrast, had identified nearly 286,000 named Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine, using official documents, death notices posted on social media, and photographs of graves, The Guardian reported.

The actual toll is likely closer to half a million and surpasses the combined human losses from all Soviet and Russian conflicts between the end of World War II and the start of the full-scale invasion by more than eight times, The Guardian reported.

An Incomplete Picture

The hacked data is incomplete. It does not account for soldiers listed as missing in action, unidentified bodies, or individuals who later died from their war-related injuries, L’Express reported.

The list of uncounted casualties could also include men executed for refusing to fight, attempting to desert, or declining to pay bribes to officers, the outlet said.

The burden of the war has fallen disproportionately on the poor and remote. In the eastern Russian regions of Buryatia, Tuva, and Transbaikal Krai, war-related deaths accounted for about one-third of all male deaths aged 18 to 49 between the start of the invasion and mid-2024. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, the figure was approximately 10 percent, The Guardian reported.

The Human Cost Mounts

As the casualties continue, the Kremlin is reportedly seeking to rebuild its force of fresh troops. Moscow aims to have 250,000 to 300,000 new recruits by mid-December, L’Express reported.

However, volunteers are becoming scarce despite large signing bonuses. In this context, a phenomenon of “street sweeps” has emerged, fueling anxiety across Russia, the outlet said.

What’s Next

With no diplomatic solution in sight, despite a new series of peace talks planned this week in Abu Dhabi, the human cost of the war continues to rise. The final tally of Russian military dead remains unknown and is likely far from complete.