The Ukrainian hacker group Silent Crow, together with the Belarusian opposition group Cyber Partisans, have announced a cyberattack on the information array of the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat). According to their data, the hackers gained access to a database containing over 11 million death certificates. Subsequently, some of these materials were handed over to Bloomberg and several other international publications for analysis. The publication of the results became one of the largest disclosures of data on Russian military losses since the beginning of the full-scale conflict that started on February 24, 2022.
How the Data Was Obtained
According to statements from both groups, the attack on Rosstat's infrastructure made it possible to intercept an array of documents recording information about the deceased: age, place of residence, and place of death. Processing this array required significant computing power, but according to the hackers' assessment, this volume of data (over 11 million records) makes a statistically reliable calculation possible. The materials were handed over to Bloomberg journalists and other media, allowing for independent verification of some records prior to public release.
What the Documents Showed
An analysis of death certificates for the period from February 24, 2022, to the end of August 2026 revealed nearly 392,700 documents in which a person's death is directly linked to military actions. This is indicated by special codes or text fields mentioning a “military operation,” shelling, unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, and other circumstances pointing to the combat nature of the death. Thus, over four and a half years of conflict, the official statistical database of Rosstat recorded nearly 393,000 cases directly tied to military events.
Why the Real Loss Figure Is Higher
As the authors of the study emphasize, the acquired array likely does not reflect the full scale of Russian losses. A number of servicemen are listed as missing in action, and some bodies remain unidentified. Additionally, there are cases where a person died several months after being wounded at the front, but such circumstances are not reflected in the death certificate. Individual deaths may have been entered into the registry under categories not indicating a connection to combat operations, or they may not have been included in statistical accounting at all. All these factors mean that 392,700 is a lower bound, not a final figure.
Silent Crow's Estimate: About 450,000 Dead
Based on the analysis, the Silent Crow hacker group estimates the total number of dead at approximately 450,000 people. This figure covers not only deaths directly related to combat operations, but also cases where the cause of death in the document was not definitively established. The difference between the direct count (about 393,000) and the total estimate (about 450,000) is about 57,000 records, which, according to the hackers, is explained by unidentified and “blurred” death categories.
Significance of the Disclosure for Public Discourse
The publication of data extracted from Rosstat's internal database is primarily significant for the independent monitoring of the conflict. Until now, official Russian statements regarding losses remained extremely limited and unverifiable. Access to primary statistical records—even in extracted form—allows international journalists and researchers to rely on a documentary base rather than just indirect estimates. At the same time, experts note that further work with the array will depend on how fully the hackers managed to extract the data and whether they will be published in the public domain for re-verification.
