Milan, May 5 (LaPresse) – The year 2024 has been the deadliest for Russian forces since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, with at least 45,287 soldiers killed. The BBC reports that monthly casualties have increased in 2024, while front-line advances have remained slow, allowing analysts to estimate that Russia has lost at least 27 lives for every square kilometre of Ukrainian territory it has captured. The number of Russian casualties recorded in 2024 is nearly triple that of the first year of the invasion and far exceeds the losses in 2023, even during the long and bloody battle of Bakhmut, the BBC adds. The broadcaster explains that its estimate is based on data collected by the Russian-language BBC service, in cooperation with independent media outlet Mediazona and a team of volunteers. They analysed publicly available data from Russian cemeteries, military memorials, and obituaries. “So far, we have identified the names of 106,745 Russian soldiers killed during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” the BBC writes, noting that “the real number is clearly much higher.” Military experts estimate that “our figure may represent between 45% and 65% of the total deaths, which would mean between 164,223 and 237,211” total Russian fatalities.
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