Hackers claim leaked Russian data reveals up to 450,000 war-related deaths in Ukraine

Two hacking groups say leaked Russian death records indicate that between 394,000 and 450,000 people fighting on Russia’s side or otherwise linked to the war have died since the full-scale invasion began. The claims could offer a rare indication of Russia’s losses, which the government does not disclose, but the records and estimates have not been independently verified.

The groups said the records came from Rosstat’s internal Demography database and covered deaths registered from February 2022 to August 2026. One counted 393,881 records explicitly citing military operations; the other estimated up to 450,100 using broader criteria. Rosstat acknowledged cyberattacks between 29 October and 1 November but denied a database breach. Separately, Mediazona, BBC Russian and volunteers had identified 285,881 Russian military deaths by 6 November through open-source research, a count they say is incomplete.