The Financial Times, citing documents obtained from a hack of Rosstat servers, estimates the number of Russian military personnel killed in the war in Ukraine at approximately 550,000. This is more than 100,000 higher than the preliminary estimate announced earlier in the week by the hackers themselves, who claimed 450,100 deaths by the summer of 2026. The discrepancy, according to FT journalists, is explained by several factors that were not accounted for in the initial count and which, the investigation's authors argue, significantly skew official statistics downwards.
Why the figure turned out higher
The primary reason for the revision is delays in reporting and processing information. According to the FT, in 2026, documentation and searches for those killed during the siege of Mariupol in 2022 were still ongoing: some families were still filing applications, and bodies remained unidentified. Furthermore, journalists identified another 12,000 deaths of service members who died on the front line or nearby but were not included in the main dataset. A separate category accounts for 42,000 deaths of military-age men established through court disputes, where families were unable to retrieve bodies and turned to courts to obtain compensation or confirm death. It is the sum of these "unrecorded" categories that, according to FT calculations, adds approximately 100,000 people to the baseline Rosstat figure.
Forecast for the end of 2026
If the pace of losses on the front continues at the level recorded in January 2026, the total number of Russian military deaths could reach 650,000 by the end of this year, according to modeling conducted by the FT based on Rosstat data dynamics. For comparison: at the end of October, The Economist estimated the death toll in the range of 374,000 to 770,000, and total losses (including wounded and missing in action) at 1.4–2.1 million. Compared to the same publication's May estimate, the lower bound of losses has increased by 94,000 and the upper bound by 252,000, indicating a continuing rise in the rate of losses.
Demographics and regional picture
The structure of those killed during the war has changed significantly. While the average age of those killed on the front during the first year of the conflict was 34, it rose to 40 in 2025. Men aged 35 to 44 account for the largest share of the deceased — 158,000 people. By region, the Zabaykalsky Krai (about 12,300 deaths, or one in every 80 residents of the region) and Bashkortostan (about 15,800) lead. These figures, according to the FT, reflect both the demographic specifics of the regions and the nuances of military recruitment.
Foreigners among the dead
The FT also established that at least 4,141 foreigners have died fighting on Russia's side in the war. These include citizens of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Colombia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Nepal, Bangladesh, and India. Exact national breakdowns are not provided in open data, but the very fact of the presence of citizens from dozens of countries confirms that the Russian army continues to attract foreign mercenaries and contractors, which was not previously reflected in official casualty statistics.
Open sources and independent accounting
Parallel to Rosstat data and Western estimates, independent accounting of the dead is being conducted through open sources. As of November 6, 2026, Mediazona, the BBC, and volunteer projects have established the names of 285,881 fallen Russian military personnel. Two weeks before this date, the list grew by 2,888 entries — these refer to new confirmed names, not necessarily deaths that occurred precisely in that period. The list is compiled based on messages from relatives, media and government reports, and photographs of burials. Thus, even conservative independent accounting, which considers only confirmed names, records over a quarter of a million deaths, which is consistent with the lower range of The Economist's estimates and confirms the order of magnitude of the figures reported by the FT.
