A leaked Russian government database appears to show that nearly 400,000 Russians have died in the war in Ukraine since the invasion began in 2022.
The records, obtained by the Belarusian pro-opposition group Cyber Partisans and the Ukrainian operation Silent Crow, reportedly came from Rosstat, Russia’s federal statistics agency.
The groups, both banned in Russia and designated as “extremist organisations” by the authorities, said they had taken extensive data covering the country’s economy, demographics and wartime casualties.
More than 392,700 death certificates issued between February 2022 and late August 2026 are said to contain an explicit reference to the war. The descriptions include terms such as “military operation”, “shelling” and “drones”, either in official classifications or handwritten notes.
The figure includes servicemen and civilians, including people killed in air strikes and during Ukraine’s 2024 incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
It does not include soldiers listed as missing in action or an estimated 27,000 foreign fighters believed to have been recruited into the Russian military, suggesting the overall death toll could be higher if the data is accurate.
Not every death recorded was the result of combat. More than 14,000 entries reportedly referred to soldiers who died from causes including illness, road accidents or suicide, while a further 32,000 died from injuries sustained at least a year earlier.
Janis Kluge, head of the Russia and Eurasia division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, described the disclosure as “the most significant leak of data when it comes to Russian casualties”.
“I think it’s established as a fact that the war has never been more deadly than it is right now,” he told The Moscow Times.
If the figures are accurate, the conflict would be Russia’s deadliest since the Second World War and its fourth most common cause of death over the past four years.
The data also indicates that Russia’s ethnic republics have suffered disproportionately from mobilisation and military recruitment, while Moscow and other major cities have recorded a lower share of casualties relative to their population.
Researcher Maria Vyushkova said the Kremlin’s recruitment policies amounted to the “extermination of entire nations” among some of Russia’s smallest ethnic groups. The findings are consistent with previous accounts of people from poorer regions being recruited with offers of high salaries and generous benefits.
The disclosure comes as fighting continues and Moscow and Kyiv remain engaged in US-brokered discussions on ending the war. There has been no indication that either side is ready to abandon its demands.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had targeted four electrical substations in Ukraine’s Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Vinnytsia regions. Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 317 drones overnight, including 105 jet-powered models.
At the same time, Ukraine said long-range drones had started a fire at the KINEF oil refinery near St Petersburg, more than 1,200 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. The strike was described as part of Kyiv’s campaign against Russia’s oil-refining capacity.
