What is Mediazona?: An independent Russian investigative outlet founded in 2014 that maintains the most rigorous open-source database of confirmed Russian military deaths in Ukraine.
How many Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine?: Mediazona confirmed 206,200 Russian military deaths by 27 March 2026 from publicly verifiable sources. The outlet estimates the true figure is 2-3 times higher.Source: Mediazona
How does Mediazona count Russian casualties?: Mediazona uses obituaries, social media posts, court records and regional news to compile individually verified deaths. BBC Russia and the Conflict Intelligence Team have independently validated the methodology.
Why is Mediazona's count lower than Ukraine's?: Mediazona counts only confirmed dead from open sources. The Ukrainian General Staff estimates total casualties including wounded and missing, reaching ~1,278,000 by March 2026.Source: Ukrainian General Staff
Is Mediazona banned in Russia?: Yes. The site is blocked inside Russia and accessible only via VPNs and mirrors. Several of its journalists have been listed as foreign agents.
What is Russia's killed-to-wounded ratio?: Leaked Russian internal data revealed a 62:38 killed-to-wounded ratio, the inverse of Western norms (typically 1:3), suggesting a collapsed medical evacuation system.Source: Leaked Russian assessments

Background

The gap between Mediazona's count and the Ukrainian General Staff's estimate of ~1,278,000 total casualties reflects methodology: Mediazona counts only confirmed dead from open sources; the General Staff estimates total casualties including wounded and missing. Leaked Russian internal assessments revealed a 62:38 killed-to-wounded ratio, the inverse of Western military norms, pointing to a collapsed medical evacuation system.

Mediazona is an independent Russian investigative outlet that has built the war's most rigorous open-source database of confirmed Russian military deaths. Its methodology uses obituaries, social media posts, regional news and court records to compile a verified list that by 27 March 2026 stood at 206,200 confirmed dead. Mediazona estimates the true figure is 2-3 times higher, suggesting actual fatalities could exceed 400,000.

Founded in 2014, Mediazona operates under intense pressure from Russian authorities. Several journalists have been listed as foreign agents and the site is blocked inside Russia. Its casualty methodology has been independently validated by BBC Russia and the Conflict Intelligence Team, making it the default cited source for verified Russian losses in international coverage.

How the World Sees Them

Russia

Moscow treats Mediazona as an enemy organisation; the site is blocked and staff face prosecution. State media does not acknowledge its casualty figures.

Ukraine

Kyiv cites Mediazona as the most credible independent corroboration of its own estimates. The figures support Ukraine's case for continued Western weapons transfers.

Western governments

Defence ministries treat Mediazona's database as the benchmark open-source count. Its verified methodology provides a defensible lower bound for public discourse.