Over the past 10 months, Russian military losses in Ukraine have increased faster than at any point since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, according to an analysis by BBC News Russian.

The surge has coincided with intensified peace efforts in 2025 driven by the administration of Donald Trump.

As diplomatic pressure mounted, the BBC recorded a 40% year-on-year increase in published obituaries of Russian soldiers. 

By late 2025, confirmed deaths were nearing 160,000 named individuals, a figure compiled jointly with Mediazona and volunteer researchers using official notices, media reports, social media, and newly identified graves.

The BBC stresses that its database reflects only verified cases and likely represents between 45% and 65% of actual fatalities. 

Using that range, the true number of Russian deaths is estimated at between 243,000 and 352,000.

 Obituary spikes serve as an indicator of battlefield intensity rather than a precise tally. In November 2025, an average of 322 obituaries were published per day, double the daily average in 2024. 

Earlier peaks appeared in February, following the first direct Trump–Putin call on ending the war, and in August, when Vladimir Putin met Trump in Alaska.

The Kremlin has linked continued territorial pressure to leverage in negotiations. 

Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said that “recent successes” had positively affected talks, even as casualty numbers climbed. Russian recruitment has so far offset losses. 

By October 2025, Deputy National Security Council chief Dmitry Medvedev said 336,000 people had signed military contracts that year, exceeding 30,000 per month.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte stated that roughly 25,000 Russian soldiers were being killed monthly. If both figures hold, Russia continues to replenish its ranks faster than they are depleted.

A growing share of those killed were civilian “volunteers” with no prior military background. 

In 2024, they accounted for 15% of deaths; in 2025, roughly one in three. Local authorities, under pressure to meet recruitment targets, advertised payments of up to 10 million roubles per year and targeted indebted citizens, students, and criminal defendants. 

One case highlighted by the BBC was Murat Mukashev, a Moscow activist sentenced to 10 years in prison who enlisted in late 2024, believing Trump’s pledge of a rapid peace would secure early release. He was killed on June 11, 2025, during an assault in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. 

“He saw this as a chance to be released,” his support group said. The BBC notes many recruits misunderstand contract terms, which since September 2022 are automatically extended until the war ends.

Ukraine’s losses remain severe. President Volodymyr Zelensky said in February that 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 380,000 wounded, with tens of thousands missing or captive. 

Cross-referenced estimates cited by the BBC put Ukrainian deaths as high as 140,000.