Confidential death records stolen from Russia's state statistics agency show that about 400,000 Russians have been killed fighting in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, according to data shared with Bloomberg News — a toll far higher than anything Moscow has ever acknowledged. The records, obtained by the Belarusian hacker group Cyber Partisans and the Ukrainian hacking operation Silent Crow, cover more than 11 million death certificates

The leak lands at a sensitive moment. The war is in its fifth year, Russia has not published an official military death toll in more than four years, and talks on the conflict are again on the international agenda this week. The figures give the first large-scale, document-based estimate of the war's Russian death toll.

Key Points

• About 400,000 Russians have been killed in Ukraine since February 24, 2022, according to hacked records from Russia's statistics agency, Rosstat.
• Nearly 392,700 death certificates explicitly link the deaths to the war.
• One hacking group, Silent Crow, puts the broader toll at about 450,000, including non-combat deaths and records without an explicit cause.
• The hackers say they breached Rosstat on November 1, accessing about 25,000 computers and taking around 23 terabytes of data.
• Rosstat confirmed cyberattacks between October 29 and November 1, but denied its databases were compromised or data leaked.

What Happened

The two groups announced on November 1 that they had broken into the internal infrastructure of Rosstat, Russia's federal statistics service. Cyber Partisans, a Belarusian group, and Silent Crow, a Ukrainian hacking operation, said they accessed about 25,000 computers inside the agency and extracted roughly 23 terabytes of data

The material shared with Bloomberg News and other outlets covers more than 11 million death certificates, each carrying details such as residence, age and place of death. Within that archive, nearly 392,700 certificates dated between February 24, 2022 and late August 2026 explicitly connect the death to the war, in the cause-of-death code or in text mentioning a "military operation," shelling or drones. Cyber Partisans counted at least 393,881 war-linked deaths; Silent Crow's broader count, including non-combat deaths, puts it at about 450,000. Bloomberg said the metadata was consistent with a genuine export, with no signs of fabrication, though the full dataset could not be independently verified.

Background and Context

Russia has not published an official count of its military dead since September 2022, when the defence ministry said 5,937 soldiers had been killed. No updated figure has been released since, even as the fighting continued for four more years.

That silence has left a wide gap between Moscow's public position and outside estimates. Western military assessments have put total Russian casualties — killed and wounded combined — at more than one million. Independent researchers who count only deaths confirmed by name in public sources, such as obituaries and cemetery records, have documented far fewer, because their method captures only deaths that can be verified one by one. The hacked Rosstat data, if genuine, fills the space between those approaches: a count drawn from the state's own civil records.

400,000 Russians Killed in Ukraine War: What the Records Show

Even the lower figure is almost certainly an undercount. Some soldiers remain missing or unidentified, and their deaths may never have been registered. The certificates also end in late August 2026, so deaths since then are not included.

What the records do not show is equally important. They do not break down the dead by unit, rank or place of death on the battlefield, and no regional breakdown has been published so far. For Russia, the scale carries political weight: a toll of 400,000 would mean roughly one in every 350 Russians of military age has been killed. Read more in our coverage of Ukraine's hopes for more US aid after the midterms and Zelenskyy's demand for a ceasefire first.

Reactions and Quotes

Rosstat's response has been to deny the breach outright. The agency confirmed cyberattacks on its systems between October 29 and November 1, but said its databases were not compromised and no data was leaked. It has not addressed the specific figures in the hacked material or explained how the hackers obtained death certificates that Bloomberg found consistent with a genuine export.

Bloomberg's reporting was careful about the limits of what could be established. The news agency said the metadata matched a genuine data export and showed no indicators of fabrication, but made clear the full dataset of more than 11 million certificates could not be independently verified in its entirety. The hackers have said the breach exposed the true scale of a war whose costs the Russian government has worked hard to keep from its own public.

Why It Matters

The most immediate significance of the leak is that it replaces speculation with documents. For more than four years, debate about Russian war deaths has relied on estimates, intelligence assessments and painstaking counts of public obituaries. A dataset drawn from the state's own death registry, if it holds up to scrutiny, gives that debate a firmer foundation.

It also matters for diplomacy. Trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States are due to resume in Abu Dhabi this week, and allied foreign ministers have been meeting in Paris to assess the conflict. A credible figure for Russian losses changes the context: it speaks to the price Moscow has already paid and the pressure on both sides to find a way out.

What Happens Next

The first question is verification. Journalists and researchers who received the data will work through it, checking certificates against known deaths, looking for patterns by age and region, and testing whether the files are consistent with other records. With talks due in Abu Dhabi, both sides will be weighing whether the moment favours negotiation or further fighting. For the latest, see our report on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant losing all external power.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Russians have been killed in the Ukraine war?
About 400,000, according to hacked Rosstat death records. Nearly 392,700 certificates explicitly link the deaths to the war, and one hacking group's broader calculation puts the toll at about 450,000.

Who obtained the data?
The Belarusian hacker group Cyber Partisans and the Ukrainian hacking operation Silent Crow said they breached Rosstat's systems on November 1, accessing about 25,000 computers and extracting around 23 terabytes of data.

Has Russia confirmed the figures?
No. Rosstat confirmed cyberattacks between October 29 and November 1 but denied its databases were compromised or data leaked. Moscow has not published an official military death toll since September 2022.

Can the leaked figures be independently verified?
Not yet in full. Bloomberg found the metadata consistent with a genuine data export and saw no indicators of fabrication, but said the full dataset of more than 11 million certificates could not be independently verified.

Why does the death toll matter now?
It is the first large-scale, document-based estimate of Russian war deaths, replacing years of speculation. It comes as trilateral talks are due to resume in Abu Dhabi, and it sharpens the picture of the price Moscow has paid for a war now in its fifth year.