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The BBC has discovered that the number of Russian soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine has crossed the border of 50,000 people.
According to these findings, Russian military casualties in the second year of the war – during which Moscow continued to pursue the strategy called “wheel meat” – were about 25% higher than in the first year of the war.
The Russian BBC, the Independent Media Group and volunteers have compiled casualty figures from February 2022. The new graves in the cemeteries provided the opportunity to list the names of many soldiers.
The BBC team also examined the official reports available in public sources, newspapers and social media and their findings show that more than 27,300 Russian soldiers were killed in the second year of the war, which indicates a high human cost for occupying the territories. .
In response to the BBC report, Russia said that only the Ministry of Defense of Russia can provide information on this matter. The phrase “wheel meat” has been used to describe the Russian government’s method of sending united groups of soldiers to the front line to destroy the Ukrainian forces and identify their location by the Russian artillery.
The total number of casualties of the Russian forces – more than 50 thousand – is eight times more than the official figure of casualties announced by the Russian government in September 2022.
The actual death toll is likely much higher. Militant casualties in Donetsk and Luhansk regions under Russian occupation in eastern Ukraine, including BBC analysis, BBC would have said that if the militia casualties were also considered, the casualties on the Russian side would be much higher.
At the same time, Ukraine rarely comments on casualties among its forces on the battlefield.
Volodymyr Zelinsky, the president of Ukraine, announced that the casualties of Ukrainian soldiers in February were 31,000, but the estimates based on US intelligence reports show that the casualties in this country are much higher.
