Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian war

Total deaths

Initially, the known number of Ukrainian military casualties varied widely due to the Ukrainian Army drastically understating its casualties,^[16] as reported by medics, activists and soldiers on the ground, as well as at least one lawmaker.^{[16][17][18][19]} Several medical officials reported they were overstretched due to the drastic number of casualties.^[16] Eventually, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry stated that the numbers recorded by the National Museum of Military History were the official ones, although still incomplete,^[20] with 4,535 deaths cataloged by 23 February 2022.^[11]

According to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 1,175 of the Ukrainian servicemen died due to non-combat causes by 5 March 2021.^[21] Subsequently, the military did not publish new figures on their non-combat losses, stating they could be considered a state secret.^[22]

Deaths by regions

The following table does not include the 298 deaths from the shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 or the deaths of Ukrainian servicemen, which are listed separately.

Missing and captured

By 15 May 2016, the Donetsk region's prosecutors reported 1,592 civilians had gone missing in government-controlled areas, of whom 208 had been located.^[29] At the same time, a report by the United Nations stated 1,331–1,460 people were missing, including at least 378 soldiers and 216 civilians. 345 unidentified bodies, of mostly soldiers, were also confirmed to be held at morgues in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast or buried.^[30] In all, as of late October, 774 people were missing according to the government,^[31] including 271 soldiers.^[32] By the end of December 2017, the number of confirmed missing on the Ukrainian side was 402,^[33] including 123 soldiers.^[34] The separatists also reported 433 missing on their side by mid-December 2016,^[35] and 321 missing by mid-February 2022.^[36]

As of mid-March 2015, according to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), 1,553 separatists had been released from captivity during prisoner exchanges between the two sides.^[37] Subsequently, Ukraine released another 316 people by late February 2016, according to the DPR and other media reports,^{[38][39][40][41]} while by September, 1,598 security forces members and 1,484 civilians had been released by the rebels.^[42] 1,110 separatist fighters and supporters, including 743 civilians, were reportedly still being held by Ukrainian forces as of late March 2016, according to the DPR.^[43] They updated the figure of separatist prisoners to 816, including 287–646 civilians, in December.^[44][35] At the end of May 2015, the Ukrainian commander of Donetsk airport, Oleg Kuzminykh, who was captured during the battle for the complex, was released.^[45]

In December 2017, a large prisoner exchange took place where the rebels released 73 out of 176 prisoners they were holding, while Ukraine released 306 out of 380 of their prisoners. Out of those that were released by Ukraine, 29 brought to the exchange point refused to go back to separatist-held territory, while 40 who were already previously released did not show up for the exchange. Meanwhile, out of those released by the rebels, 32 were soldiers. This brought the overall number of prisoners released by the rebels to 3,215.^[33] Among those still held by the separatists, 74 were soldiers.^[46] The number of released prisoners was updated to 3,233 in early March 2019.^[47] At the end of December 2019, a new prisoner exchange took place, with Ukraine releasing 124 separatist fighters and their supporters, while 76 prisoners, including 12 soldiers, were returned to Ukraine by the rebels. Another five or six prisoners released by the separatists decided to stay in rebel-controlled territories.^[48][49][50] The last exchange took place on 16 April 2020, with the separatists releasing 20 people, including 17 civilians, in exchange for 14.^[51][52] while 214 remained in captivity.^[53]

Foreign fighters

Foreign volunteers have been involved in the conflict, fighting on both sides. The NGO Cargo 200 reported that they documented the deaths of 1,479 Russian citizens while fighting as part of the rebel forces.^[54] The United States Department of State estimated 400–500 of these were regular Russian soldiers.^[15] Five Abkhazians, two Kyrgyz, one Georgian and one South Ossetian have also been killed fighting on the separatist side.^[55] Additionally, at least 253 foreign-born Ukrainian citizens or foreigners died on the Ukrainian side.^[56] One of those killed was the former Chechen rebel commander Isa Munayev.^[57]

In late August 2015, according to a reported leak by a Russian news site, Business Life (Delovaya Zhizn), 2,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in Ukraine by 1 February 2015.^[58][59]

Foreign civilians and journalists

At least 306 foreign civilians were killed in the war in Donbas prior to the 2022 invasion:

• 298 passengers and crew of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17^[60]
• Italian journalist Andrea Rocchelli and his Russian fixer and interpreter, activist Andrei Mironov^[61][62]
• Four other civilian journalists and media workers from Russia: Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, a correspondent and sound engineer respectively; Anatoly Klyan, a camera operator; and Andrey Stenin, a photojournalist^[62]
• One Russian civilian killed in the shelling of Donetsk, Russia^[63]
• One Lithuanian diplomat^[64]

Landmines and other explosive remnants

As a consequence of the conflict, large swaths of the Donbas region have become contaminated with landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW).^[65] According to the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, in 2020 Ukraine was one of the countries most affected by ERW in the world, and had had nearly 1,200 casualties caused by mines or ERW since the beginning of the conflict in 2014.^[66] A report by UNICEF released in December 2019 said that 172 children had been injured or killed due to landmines and other explosives.^[67]

Total casualties

Ukrainian estimates of Russian military losses tended to be high, while Russian estimates of their own losses tended to be low. Combat deaths can be inferred from a variety of sources, including satellite imagery and video image of military actions.^[68] According to a researcher at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University in Sweden, regarding Russian military losses, Ukraine engaged in a misinformation campaign to boost morale and Western media were generally happy to accept its claims, while Russia was "probably" downplaying its own casualties. Ukraine also tended to be quieter about its own military fatalities.^[69] According to BBC News, Ukrainian claims of Russian fatalities included the injured as well.^[70][71][72] Western countries emphasized the Russian military's toll, while Russian news outlets have largely stopped reporting on the Russian death toll.^[73] In early June 2022, the Svetlogorsk City Court in the Kaliningrad region ruled that a list of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, published by privately owned news websites, constituted "classified information" and its publication could be considered a criminal offense.^[74]

Information on military casualties is a state secret in both Russia and Ukraine, while the Ukrainian government has been especially secretive, restricting access to demographic data that could be used to estimate its losses. In addition, Western intelligence agencies have been reluctant to disclose their internal calculations of Ukrainian military casualties for fear of undermining an ally. American officials previously said that Ukraine withholds this information from even its closest allies.^[75]

The number of civilian and military deaths is impossible to determine with precision.^[76][68] The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) considers the number of civilian casualties to be considerably higher than the one the United Nations are able to certify.^[77]

Political scientist Neta Crawford estimated 323,000 dead in the war by July 2025, with an average rate of 7,690 killed per month—surpassing the average of 2,826 killed per month in the Gaza war and 772 killed in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021). According to Crawford, while civilians accounted for 80 percent of the fatalities in the Gaza war and 26 percent in the War in Afghanistan, only four percent of those killed in Ukraine were civilians.^[78]

Russian losses

In September 2022, Russia's Ministry of Defence confirmed that 5,937 Russian soldiers had been killed in combat.^[110] In addition, the DPR confirmed that by 22 December 2022, 4,163 of their servicemen had been killed and 17,329 wounded.^[j] Subsequently, leaked US intelligence documents cited the Russian FSB that Russian forces suffered 110,000 casualties by 28 February 2023.^[113] Wagner PMC chief Yevgeny Prigozhin confirmed that his organization had lost over 20,000 troops killed by 25 May 2023.^[114] He went on to claim that overall, the Russian military had lost 120,000 dead in Ukraine by late June 2023. He accused the Ministry of Defence of systematically downplaying Russian losses.^[115]

According to BBC News Russian and the Mediazona news website, out of 225,019 Russian soldiers and contractors whose deaths they had documented by 2 June 2026, 3.2 percent (7,226) were officers, while 12.8 percent (28,908) were Motorized Rifle Troops and 2.4 percent (5,330) were members of the Russian Airborne Forces (VDV). In addition, 8.5 percent (19,037) of Russian soldiers whose deaths had been confirmed were people who were mobilized, while 11.3 percent (25,479) were convicts.^[101] The BBC further stated that

The actual toll is likely much higher than can be determined through open sources. Military experts we interviewed suggest that our analysis of Russian cemeteries, war memorials, and obituaries may account for between 45% and 65% of the real death toll.

Thus, the BBC stated that the actual death toll of Russian forces, counting only Russian servicemen and contractors (i.e. excluding DPR/LPR militia), was 344,000 to 497,000 by 29 May 2026.^[101]

Postage stamps depicting a Russian private (on the left) and an officer (on the right) killed in the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2022.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found that 60,000 to 70,000 Russian soldiers died in the first year of the war in Ukraine, more than in all its other wars since World War II combined, including 13,000 to 25,000 in Chechnya over 15 years and 14,000 to 16,000 in Afghanistan. Thus, the first year of the Ukraine war was 25 times deadlier than Chechnya and 35 times more so than Afghanistan.^[116]

In February 2023, Meduza published an article about the portion of Russian military casualties classified as missing, describing systemic problems with Russia's military record-keeping making it difficult for families to obtain their bodies or file for compensation by the government. Sergey Krivenko, head of the human-rights advocacy organization ″Citizen. Army. Law.″, estimated the amount of missing Russian soldiers at this time to be around 24,000, adding that most of the missing are soldiers who have been killed but have not had their body recovered.^[117]

Meduza, analyzing data on confirmed soldiers killed and data retrieved from the Russian probate registry, estimated 75,000 Russian soldiers were killed since the start of the invasion and by the end of 2023, a statistical estimate within a wide range of between 66,000 and 88,000 killed.^[118] Subsequently, several months later, Meduza gave a new estimate of 64,000 soldiers killed in 2022 and 2023, based on excess deaths reported by Rosstat, including those in Crimea, but not other Ukrainian regions seized by Russia.^[119] Using a similar analysis, but in addition using a statistical model of the ratio of total deaths to deaths confirmed by name, stratified by age group, and the Mediazona updated counts of named deaths, Meduza gave an updated estimate of total Russian deaths of 120,000 killed through to 30 June 2024.^[120] Several days later, The Economist made its own calculation using the severely-wounded-to-killed ratio from leaked documents by the United States Department of Defense, giving an estimate of between 462,000 and 728,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded since the start of the conflict. According to their estimate, approximately 2% of all Russian men between the ages of 20 and 50 may have been killed or seriously wounded in Ukraine since February 2022.^[121] By the end of 2024, Meduza estimated that over 165,000 Russian soldiers had died during the war.^[122]

According to NATO and Western military officials, around 1,200 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in Ukraine every day on average in May and June 2024.^[123][124] In July 2024, Chief of the General Staff of the British Army Sir Roland Walker said that with the current way of fighting, it would take Russia five years to control the four regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia that Russia claims as its own, and it would cost Russia from 1.5 to 1.8 million casualties.^[125] He said there are "no winners" in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, adding that "it is an utter devastation for both sides and lost generations."^[126] By August 2024, the daily average of Russian military casualties in the conflict was about 1,000 soldiers, according to a Western official.^[127]

In late January 2025, The New York Times reported that analysts concluded that Russia's losses, including killed and severely injured, were slightly fewer than two soldiers for every Ukrainian soldier killed or severely wounded, after they combined multiple different estimates of Ukrainian losses.^[75]

In June 2025, Russia's ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin denied that Russian casualties in the war in Ukraine had reached one million, but refused to give the actual number of casualties, telling CNN that there were about 600,000 Russian troops in Ukraine, down from 700,000 in June 2024, and that 50–60,000 new troops were being recruited and sent to Ukraine every month.^[128] Concurrently, a report by the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) put Russian military casualties at over 950,000, including up to 250,000 killed.^[129]

In October 2025, Institute for the Study of War (ISW) cited alleged leaked Russian data published by the I Want to Live hotline operated by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine, according to which Russia suffered 281,550 total losses between January and August 2025, including: 86,744 killed, 33,996 missing and 158,529 wounded.^{[130][131][132]} The Mediazona's data department's analysis of the published list concluded that "significant anomalies" were revealed, stating the figures in the leak appeared "questionable", but also that it "appears plausible, to put it cautiously, albeit at the very highest end of the probable range" and questioned certain figures like losses reported for the "Dnepr" group or abnormally high killed-to-wounded ratio, though acknowledging that the "grey zone" between front lines means the wounded are often left with very little chance of survival.^[133][134] According to online intelligence group Frontelligence Insight the numbers appeared to be "fairly accurate", and some other groups agreed with this assessment.^[134]

According to a UK Defence Intelligence report on 14 October 2025, Russia suffered approximately 1.118 million total casualties since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, including 332,000 casualties since 1 January. According to the report, Russia's casualty rate reached its high in December 2024 with 1,570 losses per day on average. Afterwards it was gradually decreasing and dropped to 930 daily casualties in August. It has been steadily increasing again since then, surpassing 1,000 daily casualties between 5–12 October.^[135]

An analysis published by The Economist on 17 October 2025, based on data from satellites and "more than 200 credible estimates of casualties from Western governments and independent researchers", stated that Russia's total casualty toll had increased by 60% since the start of the year, with over 100,000 soldiers reportedly killed since the beginning of 2025. According to the report, even if the total number of Ukrainian soldiers killed since the start of 2025 was twice the tally reported by the UALosses project, it would still result in a ratio of "roughly five Russian soldiers killed for one Ukrainian". The report also stated that the number of Russian soldiers killed in the war amount to 0.5%–1.2% of the country's pre-war cohort of men under the age of 60.^[136]

In February 2026, The Telegraph reported that for the first time since the invasion, Russia was losing more soldiers than it was able to recruit, with Western officials saying that Russia was losing 40,000 per month since November while recruiting up to 35,000 as total casualties surpassed 1.25 million, more than the total number of American casualties sustained by the US in World War II.^[137] The Telegraph reported that Russia had suffered over 1,700 casualties on 17 March, with the Ukrainian unmanned systems force being responsible for 900 of them.^[138]

On 3 April 2026, Ukrainian president Zelenskyy said that Russia had suffered its highest losses in a single month since the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, with over 35,000 killed or wounded Russian soldiers in March.^[139][140] According to Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, Russian forces suffered over 141,500 total casualties between January and May 2026, including more than 83,000 killed.^[141]

On 27 May 2026, the BBC reported that, according to the British intelligence agency GCHQ, nearly 500,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the war since 2022. The BBC itself was able to confirm the names of 223,539 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine by that point.^[100]

Ukrainian losses

Ukraine confirmed it had 10,000 killed and 30,000 wounded by the start of June 2022,^[143] while 7,200 troops were missing,^[144] including 5,600 captured.^[145] At the height of the fighting in May and June 2022, according to Ukrainian president Zelenskyy and presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak, between 100 and 200 Ukrainian soldiers were being killed in combat daily,^[146][147] while presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said 150 soldiers were being killed and 800 wounded daily.^[148] Mid-June, Davyd Arakhamia, Ukraine's chief negotiator with Russia, told Axios that between 200 and 500 Ukrainian soldiers were killed every day.^[149] By late July, Ukrainian daily losses fell to around 30 killed and about 250 wounded.^[147] In August 2023, The New York Times quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying that up to 70,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed and 100,000 to 120,000 wounded.^{[150][151][152]} However, a new estimate by a U.S. official in October 2024, put the number of Ukrainian casualties at more than 57,500 killed and 250,000 wounded.^[153] As of 25 February 2024, Ukraine confirmed 31,000 of its soldiers had been killed in the conflict.^[154] In late November 2024, based on all previous estimates of Ukrainian military casualties, The Economist estimated Ukrainian losses at between 60,000 and 100,000 killed and 400,000 wounded.^[155] On 8 December 2024, US president-elect Donald Trump claimed 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and seriously wounded so far during the war. Subsequently, President Zelenskyy announced 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 370,000 were wounded, but that "approximately 50%" of these soldiers recovered and had returned to active duty.^[156] He updated the Ukrainian military's casualty toll in mid-February 2025, to over 46,000 killed and 380,000 wounded.^[93]

Russia's Ministry of Defence claimed 61,207 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 49,368 wounded by September 2022,^[157] and in mid-December 2024, updated its claim of Ukrainian military casualties to almost 1,000,000 killed and wounded.^[158] A new update was given in late February 2026, putting Ukraine's overall military casualties at more than 1,500,000.^[88]

According to the UALosses project started at the end of 2023, found to be reliable by Mediazona, Meduza, the Book of Memory group, BBC News Russian and The Economist, themselves also running projects tracking military fatalities in the conflict,^{[159][160][161][162]} it had documented by name the deaths of 91,559 Ukrainian fighters as of 8 April 2026, as well as 95,165 missing in action, for a total of 186,724 dead or missing since the start of the invasion,^[12] including non-combat losses.^[89]

As of mid-April 2023, around 7,000 Ukrainian soldiers remained missing, of whom some 60-65 per cent were believed to be prisoners.^[163] The number of missing was updated to over 90,000 by the end of February 2026, 90 percent of which were thought to be soldiers.^[94]

Yuriy Lutsenko, the former Ukrainian Prosecutor General and member of the opposition party European Solidarity, said on Ukrainian television in January 2024 that around 500,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed or wounded, and that there were about 30,000 casualties every month.^[164]

Civilian casualties

By 30 April 2026, OHCHR had recorded 60,659 civilian casualties in Ukraine since 24 February 2022: 15,850 killed and 44,809 injured, but said they believe the real number is higher. This included 53,110 (13,008 killed and 40,102 injured) occurred on territory covered by the government of Ukraine and 7,549 (2,842 killed and 4,707 injured) on territory controlled by Russian armed forces or their affiliates.^[79] By 31 December 2025, 13,172 deaths were caused by explosive weapons "with wide area effects", 472 by mines and explosive remnants, 1,355 by small arms, including from crossfire, or road accidents involving military or civilian vehicles.^[172]

As of 30 June 2023, OHCHR said it had received information on 287 civilian casualties in Western Russia, with 58 killed and 229 injured, while six more were killed and 16 injured in the Republic of Crimea.^[173] Another two civilians were killed and one injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on the Crimean bridge on 17 July 2023,^[174] while five civilians were killed and 151 were injured by a Ukrainian missile attack in Sevastopol, in Crimea, on 23 June 2024.^[175] Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-installed head of Crimea, also alleged that a Ukrainian attack on drilling platforms in the Black Sea near Crimea had left seven Chernomorneftegaz workers missing.^[176] The 7x7 Russian opposition media outlet confirmed the deaths of 394 civilians in Russia by 25 December 2024, not including those in Crimea.^[84] In addition, missiles struck the Polish border village of Przewodów in Lublin Voivodeship on 15 November 2022, and killed two Polish civilians.^[177] Elsewhere, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 was mistakenly shot down and crashed at Aktau, Kazakhstan, on 25 December 2024, killing 38 people,^[178] including 25 Azerbaijanis, seven Russians and six Kazakhs.^[179]

In April 2022, the civilian death toll included more than 200 children.^[180] In March 2022, 55 of the war-related child deaths were from the Kyiv area and another 34 were from Kharkiv.^[181] On 17 February 2023, the Ukrainian prosecutor general announced that at least 461 children had been killed since the start of the invasion, with a further 923 wounded.^[182] Most of these child victims were from the Donetsk region.^[182]

By February 2023, Ukrainian chief prosecutor for war crimes Yuriy Belousov claimed that "there could be 100,000 civilians killed across Ukraine, whose bodies will have to be found and identified once occupied territory is liberated."^[183] A Project on Defense Alternatives study calculated a "modest" figure of 40,000 Ukrainian civilian dead by April 2023.^[184] In May 2023, US officials claimed Ukrainian civilian deaths were at 42,000, twice the then-estimated figure for Ukrainian military losses.^[185] According to the Kyiv Independent, Russia does not allow monitoring in territories it controls, where civilian deaths are thought to be highest.^[186]

Ukrainian humanitarian NGOs estimate that 7,000–30,000 Ukrainian civilians have been abducted by Russian forces from territories under their control. One group estimated 70,000 civilians were abducted. Many of them are reported to be held in Russian prisons and penal colonies, and some reportedly died (e.g. Victoria Roshchyna).^[187]

Foreign civilians

At least 225 foreign civilians from 27 countries are confirmed to have been killed during the war within Ukraine and outside it. Over 70 missing from Azerbaijan were also reported.

Paul Urey and Dylan Healy, two British aid workers, were captured by Russian forces.^[356] Healy was charged with 'forcible seizure of power' and undergoing 'terrorist' training,^[357] but later released on 21 September 2022,^[358] while Urey died in captivity.^[331] An American citizen was also detained by pro-Russian separatists forces and accused of 'participation in pro-Ukrainian protests'.^[359] He was released on 28 October 2022,^[360] and reached Ukrainian-controlled territory by 14 December.^[361]

Foreign fighters

Excluding the Russian, North Korean, and Ukrainian military casualties, at least 3,037–3,854 combatants, foreign citizens or foreign-born, were killed during the war. By January 2023, another 1,000 had been wounded while fighting on the Ukrainian side.^[362] Below is a list of the nationalities of foreign combatant casualties.

More information Country, Deaths ...

Dead foreign fighters of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Country	Deaths	Allegiance	Ref.
Ukrainian Armed Forces (1,409–1,696)
Afghanistan	1	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363]
Albania	4	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[365]
Argentina	15	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363]
Armenia	2	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[311][366][367]
Australia	13	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363][368]
Austria	3	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[363]
Azerbaijan	22	Ukrainian Armed Forces Georgian Legion	[363]
Bangladesh	1	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[369]
Barbados	1	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[370]
Belarus	30–85	Ukrainian Armed Forces Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion Pahonia Regiment	[363][371][372]
Belgium	1	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[373]
Brazil	82	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363][374]
Bulgaria	4	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[375][376][377] [378]
Canada	16–20	Ukrainian Armed Forces Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363][379][380] [381]
Chile	5	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[363]
China	3	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363]
Colombia	644–800	Ukrainian Foreign Legion Sich Battalion	[363][382][383]
Costa Rica	1	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[384]
Croatia	1	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[385]
Czech Republic	10	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363][386]
Denmark	4–6	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363][387]
Estonia	6	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[388][389]
Finland	10–13	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363][390]
France	23[r]	Ukrainian Foreign Legion Sich Battalion[392]	[363][393][391] [394]
Georgia	105	Ukrainian Armed Forces Georgian Legion Sich Battalion	[363][395][396]
Germany	17	Ukrainian Foreign Legion 49th Infantry Battalion[397]	[363][398]
Greece	3	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[363][399]
Guatemala	1	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[400]
Hungary	1	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[401]
Iceland	1	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[402]
Ireland	7	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363]
Israel	12–16[s]	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[363][403][404]
Italy	12[t]	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363][407]
Japan	3	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[408][409][410]
Kazakhstan	3	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[411][412][413]
Latvia	3	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[414][415]
Lebanon	2	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[416]
Lithuania	5	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[417][418][419] [420][421]
Mexico	6	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363]
Moldova	3	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[422][423][363]
Nepal	1	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[424]
Netherlands	5	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[425][426][427] [428][429]
New Zealand	7	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[430]
Norway	3	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[431][432][433]
Pakistan	1	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[434]
Peru	18	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363]
Philippines	1	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[435]
Poland	23	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[436]
Portugal	3–4	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363][437]
Romania	5	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363]
Russia	56	Ukrainian Armed Forces Ukrainian Foreign Legion Freedom of Russia Legion Sheikh Mansur Battalion	[458]
Serbia	1	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[459]
Slovakia	2	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[460][461]
South Africa	1	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[462]
South Korea	2	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[463][464][465] [466]
Spain	15	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[467][363]
Sri Lanka	5	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[363][468]
Sweden	11	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363]
Switzerland	1	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[469]
Taiwan	2	Ukrainian Armed Forces Sich Battalion	[470][471]
Tajikistan	1	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[472]
Turkey	4	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[473][474][475] [476]
United Kingdom	45[u][v]	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[485]
United States	105	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[486][363][499]
Uruguay	1	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[500]
Uzbekistan	1	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	[363]
Venezuela	3	Ukrainian Armed Forces	[363]

Close

More information Country, Deaths ...

Dead foreign fighters of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Country	Deaths	Allegiance	Ref.
Russian Armed Forces (1,604–2,134)
Abkhazia[w]	56	Russian Army Private military company	[501][502]
Afghanistan	1	Russian Army	[503]
Africa	3[x]	Russian Army	[507][508][509]
Algeria	11	Russian Army	[510]
Armenia	9	Russian Army Private military company	[511]
Azerbaijan	46	Russian Army Private military company	[511][512][513] [514][515][516] [517]
Bangladesh	39	Russian Army	[518]
Belarus	55	Russian Army Private military company	[511][519][520] [521][522]
Benin	3	Russian Army	[510]
Bosnia	1	Russian Army	[523]
Burkina Faso	50	Russian Army	[524]
Burundi	6	Russian Army	[510]
Cameroon	94–150	Russian Army	[510][524]
CAR	3	Private military company Russian Army	[525][510]
Congo	3	Russian Army	[510]
Cuba	19–93	Russian Army	[528]
China	3	Russian Army	[511]
Ecuador	1	Russian Army	[529]
Egypt	52	Russian Army	[511][510]
Estonia	1	Russian Army	[530]
Ethiopia	3	Russian Army	[510]
Estonia	1	Russian Army	[531]
Georgia	2	Russian Army Private military company	[532][533]
Gabon	1	Russian Army	[510]
Gambia	23	Russian Army	[534]
Ghana	55	Russian Army	[535]
Guinea	3	Russian Army	[510]
Hungary	1	Russian Army	[536]
India	49	Russian Army	[537]
Iraq	2	Private military company Russian Army	[538][539]
Ivory Coast	4	Private military company Russian Army	[540][510]
Japan	1	Russian Army	[541]
Jordan	2	Russian Army	[542]
Kazakhstan	53–270	Russian Army Private military company	[511][543][544]
Kenya	19	Russian Army	[545]
Kyrgyzstan	70	Russian Army Private military company	[511][546]
Latvia	1	Russian Army	[547]
Libya	1	Russian Army	[510]
Lithuania	1	Russian Army	[548]
Mali	15	Russian Army	[510]
Moldova	13	Russian Army Private military company	[511]
Morocco	2	Russian Army	[510]
Nepal	118	Russian Army	[549]
Nigeria	11	Russian Army	[550][551][552] [553]
Palestine	1	Russian Army	[554]
Peru	13	Russian Army	[555]
Philippines	1	Russian Army	[556]
Poland	1	Russian Army	[557]
Serbia	15	Russian Army Private military company	[558][559][511] [560]
Senegal	6	Russian Army	[561]
Sierra Leone	3	Russian Army	[510]
South Africa	2	Russian Army	[562][510]
South Ossetia[w]	96	Russian Army	[563][502]
Sri Lanka	59	Russian Army	[564]
Sudan	5	Russian Army	[510]
Syria	10	Private military company	[565][566]
Tajikistan	85–196	Russian Army Private military company	[511][567][568]
Tanzania	1	Private military company	[569]
Togo	3	Russian Army	[510]
Tunisia	1	Russian Army	[570]
Turkmenistan	6–27	Russian Army	[511][567]
Uganda	3	Russian Army	[571][510]
Ukraine	281	Russian Army Private military company	[511]
United States	1	Russian Army	[572]
Uzbekistan	82–109	Russian Army Private military company	[511][567]
Vietnam	1	Russian Army	[573]
Yemen	4–24	Russian Army	[574][575]
Zambia	2	Private military company Russian Army	[569][510]
Zimbabwe	15	Russian Army	[576][577]
Donetsk PR forces (20)
Abkhazia[w]	14	Pyatnashka Brigade	[502][578]
Belarus	1	Pyatnashka Brigade	[519]
Bulgaria	1	DPR volunteer	[579]
Colombia	1	Pyatnashka Brigade	[580]
Italy	1	Pyatnashka Brigade	[581][582]
South Ossetia[w]	1	Pyatnashka Brigade	[502][583]
United States	1	Vostok Battalion	[584]
Luhansk PR forces (4)
Italy	1	Prizrak Brigade	[585]
Finland	1	Prizrak Brigade	[586]
Serbia	1	Prizrak Brigade	[587][588]
Slovakia	1	Prizrak Brigade	[589]

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More information Country, Captured ...

Captured foreign fighters of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Country	Captured	Allegiance	Status	Ref.
Ukrainian Armed forces (32)
Australia	1	Ukrainian Armed Forces	Prisoner	[590]
Azerbaijan	1	Ukrainian Armed Forces	Released	[591]
Belarus	2	Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion	Prisoners	[592]
Colombia	10	Ukrainian Armed Forces	Prisoners	[593][594][595] [596][597][598] [599]
Croatia	1	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	Released	[600][601]
Czech Republic	1[y]	Ukrainian Armed Forces	Prisoner	[602]
Georgia	3	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	Prisoners	[603]
Israel	1	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	Released	[604][605]
Ivory Coast	1	Ukrainian Armed Forces	Prisoner	[606]
Morocco	1	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	Released	[607][601]
Serbia	1	Azov Battalion	Prisoner	[608]
Sweden	1	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	Released	[600][601]
United Kingdom	6	Armed Forces of Ukraine Ukrainian Foreign Legion	4 Released, 2 Prisoners	[609][610] [611]
United States	2	Ukrainian Foreign Legion	Released	[601]

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More information Country, Captured ...

Captured foreign fighters of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Country	Captured	Allegiance	Status	Ref.
Russian Armed forces (72)
Abkhazia[w]	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[612]
Azerbaijan	2	Russian Army	Prisoners	[613][614]
Belarus	8	Russian Army Private military company	Prisoners	[615][616]
Bosnia	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[617]
Brazil	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[618]
Burundi	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[619]
Cameroon	2	Russian Army	Prisoners	[620]
China	2	Russian Army	Prisoners	[621]
Colombia	2	Russian Army	Prisoners	[622]
Congo Republic	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[621]
Cuba	4	Russian Army	Prisoners	[623][624]
Egypt	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[621]
Ghana	2	Russian Army Private military company	Prisoner	[625][626]
Greece	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[627]
India	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[628]
Iran	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[629]
Iraq	2	Russian Army	Prisoners	[630][631]
Italy	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[632]
Kazakhstan	1	Private military company	Prisoner	[633]
Kenya	2	Russian Army	Prisoners	[545]
Kyrgyzstan	2	Russian Army	1 Released, 1 Prisoner	[634]
Nepal	11	Russian Army	Prisoners	[635]
Nigeria	3	Russian Army	Prisoners	[636][637][552]
Philippines	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[638]
Senegal	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[639]
Sierra Leone	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[621]
Slovakia	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[640]
Somalia	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[621]
Sri Lanka	6	Russian Army	Prisoners	[621]
Syria	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[621]
Tajikistan	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[641]
Togo	2	Russian Army	Prisoners	[642]
Uganda	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[643]
Uzbekistan	4	Russian Army Private military company	1 Released, 3 Prisoners	[644][634]
Vietnam	1	Russian Army	Prisoner	[645]
Yemen	2	Russian Army	Prisoners	[575]

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Two Peruvians, an Azerbaijani, a Colombian, a Czech, and an Estonian foreign fighter were also reported missing while fighting alongside the Ukrainian military,^[646] and 132 Nepalese, 32 Kenyans, six Indians and three Belarusians went missing while fighting for Russia.^{[549][545][537][615]} Russian sources also presented the passport of an American fighter who was claimed to have either been killed or captured, although this was not confirmed.^[647]

Identification, repatriation and exchanges

Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations, announced on 27 February 2022, that the country had reached out to the International Committee of the Red Cross for help in the repatriation effort of the bodies of killed Russian soldiers.^[648] Due to concerns that Russia was not reporting the number or any casualties of soldiers in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry began issuing appeals that same day for relatives of Russian soldiers to help identify wounded, captured, or killed soldiers. The initiative, called Ishchi Svoikh (Russian: Ищи Своих, lit. 'Look for Your Own'), appeared aimed in part at undermining morale and support for the war in Russia and was quickly blocked by the Russian government's media regulator the day the initiative began at the request of Russia's Prosecutor-General's Office.^[649][69]

Ukrainian authorities began using facial recognition technology supplied to them by Clearview AI on 12 March 2022, to help identify the deceased, along with potentially using it to uncover Russian spies, vet people at checkpoints and potentially combat misinformation. The Chief Executive of Clearview claimed that the technology could be more effective than matching fingerprints or other identifiable aspects of the individual, although a study by US Department of Energy raised concerns about decomposition reducing its effectiveness.^[650] Kyiv authorities have also reached out to the International Commission on Missing Persons, which was formed to help after the 1990s Balkan conflicts and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, and identifies individuals by collecting DNA samples from the deceased and families to cross match. The organization will also document the location of the body and how the individual died.^[651]

As Russian soldiers began to retreat the identification of the dead civilians who had been unreported due to communication issues and constant fighting began to be reported. Documentation and identification of the bodies began with many hastily dug graves and rubble being cleared away to photograph and identify the bodies as well as count the number involved. Handwritten tags and passports have been attached to the bodies after identification before they are taken by coroners and officials.^[652] In some locations villagers kept track of the deceased, such as in Yahidne, a village north of Kyiv, where they used a school basement wall to write the names of the deceased while under Russian control.^[653]

As of late May 2022, Ukrainian authorities had stored at least 137 bodies of Russian soldiers that were collected near Kyiv,^[654] as well as 62 in the Kharkiv region.^[655] In December 2024, Russia's Deputy Minister of Defence Anna Tsivilyova mentioned 48,000 soldiers missing in action for whom relatives have contributed DNA samples as part of search applications.^[656]

In March 2026, TVP World reported on intercepted Russian messages which according to the HUR depicted a repeated practice in some Russian units where Russian soldiers are instructed by officers to behead killed Russian soldiers and bring the head along with documents for identification. According to the HUR, this is done so that the heads can be used to identify the bodies without the need to evacuate corpses out of combat zones.^[657]

Amputations

On 2 August 2023, an investigation by The Wall Street Journal found that Ukrainian medical amputations in the war came to between 20,000 and 50,000 including both military and civilians.^[678] In August 2025, the National Institute of Strategic Studies [uk] reported that officially, the National Health Service of Ukraine recorded 95,000 amputations carried out in Ukraine on military personnel and civilians. Including amputations carried outside Ukraine the number was as high as 120,000.^[679] In comparison, during World War One 41,000 British and 67,000 Germans needed amputations.^[678]

Prisoners of war

Russia reported it had captured 572 Ukrainian soldiers by 2 March 2022,^[680] while Ukraine stated 562 Russian soldiers were being held as prisoners as of 19 March,^[681] with 10 previously reported released in prisoner exchanges for five Ukrainian soldiers and the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov.^[682][683] Subsequently, the first large prisoner exchange took place on 24 March, when 10 Russian and 10 Ukrainian soldiers, as well as 11 Russian and 19 Ukrainian civilian sailors, were exchanged.^{[684][685][686]} Among the released Ukrainian soldiers was one of 13 Ukrainian border-guard members captured during the Russian attack on Snake Island.^[687] Later, on 1 April 86 Ukrainian servicemen were exchanged^[688] for an unknown number of Russian troops.^[689]

Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, reported that a platoon of the 74th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade from Kemerovo Oblast surrendered to Ukraine, saying they "didn't know that they were brought to Ukraine to kill Ukrainians".^[690] Ukraine held a series of press conferences with about a dozen POWs, where the POWs made comments against the invasion, how they had been manipulated and for the conflict to end. According to The Guardian, while it was likely that Ukraine was using the discomfort of captured soldiers for propaganda purposes, the videos ultimately succeeded in showing the Russian servicemen's "authentic sense" of regret for having come to Ukraine.^[691] Amnesty International said that Article 13 of the Third Geneva Convention prohibits videos of captured soldiers.^[692] Captured Ukrainian soldiers with British citizenship were recorded calling for Boris Johnson to arrange for them to be freed in exchange for pro-Kremlin Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk. MP Robert Jenrick called the videos, broadcast separately on Russia-24, a "flagrant breach" of the Geneva Convention. A Russian spokeswoman claimed that she told Johnson in a phone call about the men's treatment that the UK should "show mercy" to Ukrainian citizens by stopping military aid to the Ukrainian government when asked to show the men mercy.^[693]

The head of the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for POW Treatment, Iryna Vereshchuk, raised concerns that Russia had not released information to Ukrainian authorities on the location of any Ukrainian POW's and the International Red Cross had not been allowed to see them, as of 16 March.^[694]

By 21 April, Russia claimed that 1,478 Ukrainian troops had been captured during the course of the siege of Mariupol.^[695] On 22 April, Yuri Sirovatko, Minister of Justice of the Donetsk People's Republic, claimed that some 3,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war were held in the territory of the DPR.^[696] On 20 May, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that 2,439 Ukrainian soldiers had been taken prisoner over the previous five days as a result of the surrender of the last defenders of Mariupol, entrenched inside the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works.^[697] On 26 May, Rodion Miroshnik, ambassador of the Luhansk People's Republic to Russia, claimed that around 8,000 Ukrainian POWs were held within the territory of the DPR and LPR.^[698] According to a statement by Sergei Shoigu, Russia's Minister of Defence, in early June 2022, 6,489 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[699]

In a report by The Independent on 9 June, it cited an intelligence report that more than 5,600 Ukrainian soldiers had been captured, while the number of Russian servicemen being held as prisoners had fallen to 550, from 900 in April, following several prisoner exchanges.^[145] In contrast, the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper claimed 1,000 Russian soldiers were being held as prisoners as of 20 June.^{[citation needed]}

According to Ukraine, as of mid-November 2023, 4,337 Ukrainians were being held by Russia as prisoners of war, including 3,574 soldiers and 763 civilians,^[700] while by this point 2,598 Ukrainians had been released,^[701] including 133 civilians.^[702] As of early June 2024, according to Russia, 6,465 Ukrainian soldiers were still being held prisoner in Russia and 1,348 Russian soldiers were prisoners in Ukraine,^[703] while by this point 3,210 Ukrainians had been confirmed released,^[704] including 143 civilians.^[702] By 6 June 2026, the number of prisoners released by Russia rose to between 8,669 and 9,441, including 457 civilians.^{[705][706][707]} Thousands were released during prisoner exchanges and hundreds were released by Russia outside of the exchanges.^[708] At least 800 Russian soldiers had also been confirmed to have been released by late February 2023.^[709] Between August 2024 and March 2025, 971 Russian soldiers had been captured during fighting in Kursk Oblast, according to Ukraine.^[710] As of the beginning of February 2025, 1,382 Russian servicemen that were previously thought missing were confirmed to be in Ukrainian captivity, while the overall number of Russian prisoners of war was thought to be much higher.^[711]

According to the UALosses project, 6,404 Ukrainian soldiers were being held as prisoners as of 23 April 2025.^[712] By 8 April 2026, the number had fallen to 4,454.^[12]

A study of Russian prisoners of war captured by Ukraine found that 55% of the soldiers had been motivated to fight to "improve their livelihoods", while 36% were ideologically motivated.^[713]