Russian Convict Troops Suffered Greatest Losses in Ukraine: Report
Russian convict troops suffered the greatest losses in Ukraine mainly due to their lack of military experience to fight in the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched last February, according to a joint report released Friday by BBC Russian Service and Mediazona, an independent Russian media organization.
In the report, data from open sources were used to reveal that 25,218 Russian soldiers died in Ukraine as of June, but the real number of dead Russian soldiers could exceed 50,000, according to the BBC. Russian units made up of volunteers, mobilized citizens, and prisoners fighting as part of the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group, a private military unit conducting operations in Ukraine, have been greatly suffering in the war since last December, the report added.
Meanwhile, the media organizations found that 4,689 Russian prisoners suffered the most serious losses as the majority of them died during the fights for Soledar and Bakhmut. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner, said that about 10,000 convicts died during the assault on Bakhmut, according to the report, which added that if this figure is correct then that confirms that the media organizations' list of deaths could be half as much as the real number of casualties. Additionally, 60 percent of 2,467 mobilized Russians died since January of this year.
Russia doesn't disclose the number of its dead soldiers, volunteers, or prisoners killed in the war in Ukraine, but its defense ministry said last September that 5,937 Russian personnel died, according to Current Time TV, a Russian-language television channel. Newsweek couldn't independently verify the figure released by the ministry or the number of dead Russian soldiers mentioned in the BBC/Mediazona report.
Ukrainian soldiers from the 28th Brigade practice firing their AK-47 assault rifles and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) in the Donbas region, Ukraine, on April 26. Russian convict troops suffered the greatest losses in Ukraine mainly due to their lack of military experience to fight in the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched last February, according to a joint report released Friday by BBC Russian Service and Mediazona. Photo by Scott Peterson/Getty Images
Putin's war has extended throughout major Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Kherson, Odessa, and Bakhmut—the latter has been the site of monthslong fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops, with both sides claiming victory over the city.
The Russian president launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine with confidence that his country would achieve a quick victory, but Ukraine responded with a stronger-than-expected defense effort, mainly boosted by Western military and humanitarian aid that has deterred Russian military goals and limited their advancements.
In April, Russian prisoners' rights activist Olga Romanova said that Russian prisoners were signing contracts with the Russian defense ministry to fight in Ukraine for an extended period of time. Romanova, director of the civil rights organization Russia Behind Bars, wrote on Telegram at the time that the ministry has been recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine since February.
The recruits would sign contracts with the ministry to fight for six months, but this period has now been extended to 18 months, Romanova wrote citing reports from the Sverdlovsk and Yaroslavl regions.
In March, Prigozhin announced that more than 5,000 former prisoners have been released since summer 2022, after fulfilling their contracts with the Wagner Group, according to Meduza. In addition, Russia Behind Bars estimates that over 50,000 prisoners have been recruited by Wagner since last winter. However, Prigozhin said in February that his paramilitary unit is no longer recruiting Russian prisoners to fight in Ukraine.
Newsweek reached out by email to the Russian foreign affairs ministry for comment.
Source: Newsweek
