As of the morning of 16 June, at least 34,850 people from the Volga Federal District regions (plus the Astrakhan region) have died.
During the period from 9 June to 15 June, Idel. Realii identified the names of 383 soldiers from 15 regions of the Volga region who died in the war in Ukraine. Thus, as of the morning of 16 June, at least 34,850 people from these Russian regions had died.
The number of names of those killed in the past week by region:
- Bashkortostan – 102 people;
- Tatarstan – 99 people;
- Saratov region – 49 people;
- Mari El – 38 people;
- Perm Krai – 23 people;
- Kirov region – 12 people;
- Chuvashia – 11 people;
- Samara region – 10 people;
- Astrakhan region – 9 people;
- Nizhny Novgorod region – 8 people;
- Ulyanovsk region – 8 people;
- Orenburg region – 5 people;
- Penza region – 4 people;
- Udmurtia – 3 people;
- Mordovia – 2 people.
Bashkortostan is the leader in the number of fatalities: the war has claimed the lives of at least 5,901 soldiers from the republic. Next on the list are Tatarstan with 5,321 and Perm Krai with 3,675 names. The least losses among the Volga regions to date have been suffered by Penza Oblast and Mordovia – 706 and 456, respectively.
Journalists from Mediazona, together with colleagues from the BBC Russian Service and a team of volunteers, have identified the names of 113,436 Russians killed in the war as of 12 June. According to Mediazona and the BBC, Bashkortostan is the leader in the number of deaths among all Russian regions, with 5,481 soldiers. Tatarstan is in second place (5,170), Perm Krai is in fourth (3,514). Also among the top ten regions with the greatest losses is Saratov Oblast, with 2,651 dead.
“Military experts we interviewed suggest that our analysis of Russian cemeteries, war memorials and obituaries could cover between 45% and 65% of the real number of dead,” writes the BBC Russian Service.
Taking into account the given assessment, the real number of deaths on the Russian side could be in the range from 174,518 to 251,080 people, the journalists write.
The BBC Russian Service previously analysed the latest data on fatalities per 10,000 men in the regions. Taking this indicator into account (as of the end of May 2025), Tuva leads by a wide margin in terms of the number of deaths among Russian regions (120 deaths per 10,000 men). It is followed by Buryatia (91 deaths) and the Altai Republic (89).
In the Volga region, the Kirov region is the leader in the number of military deaths per 10,000 male population aged 18 to 66 (53 people per 10,000), according to calculations by Idel.Realii as of 9 June 2025. In second place in the Volga region is Perm Krai: 47 military deaths per 10,000 male population in this age range occurred there. In third place is Bashkortostan: 46 men per 10,000 died there. Fourth place (43 deaths per 10,000) is shared by three regions at once: Tatarstan, Udmurtia and Saratov Oblast.
- Russia’s losses in the year-long war with Ukraine exceeded the losses of the USSR and Russia in all wars since World War II combined. Moscow and Kyiv, as a rule, do not publicly disclose their losses in the war in Ukraine, talking mainly about the enemy’s losses. Parties to military conflicts tend to exaggerate their successes and downplay their failures. Journalists’ research is one of the most important independent estimates of the number of casualties.
- The Russian Defence Ministry last reported on losses on the day mobilization began — 21 September 2022. According to the head of the department at that time, Sergei Shoigu, losses amounted to 5,937 people.
- “Idel.Realii” keeps its own count of the dead soldiers and volunteers from the Volga regions. This list includes only those whose deaths were acknowledged in one way or another by the Russian side, relatives of the dead, or educational or other public institutions. The real figures may be significantly higher.
