A thousand prisoners have died in Russia’s war with Ukraine since the beginning of the year
Since the beginning of the year, at least one thousand prisoners who were supposed to serve their sentences in Russian prisons have died in the war on the territory of Ukraine. This was reported by the journalists of the Russian Service of the BBC and Mediazony, as well as a team of volunteers who are conducting a count of the dead based on open sources.
After analyzing obituaries, journalists came to the conclusion that at least 400 prisoners died in the last two weeks. Many were killed in the battles near Bakhmut.
In total, since the beginning of the war, more than two thousand people who had to serve time in the colony have died.
In total, by March 17, according to open data, it was possible to confirm the death of 17,375 people who fought on the side of the Russian army. About a third of them are volunteers, mobilized, prisoners and mercenaries of the so-called PMC “Wagner”.
- The Ministry of Defense of Russia does not disclose data on personnel losses and does not comment on the figures reported by journalists. The authorities of Ukraine also do not report the number of dead soldiers.
- According to Western intelligence estimates, the losses of the Russian army in killed and wounded may reach 200 thousand people – up to 60 thousand of them could die.
- In November, the Pentagon announced that the losses on both sides, Russia and Ukraine, presumably amount to 100 thousand people each; Washington did not comment on the doubling of estimates.
- In the conditions of hostilities, it is difficult to quickly verify the messages of the warring parties.
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