No fewer than 50,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the front lines in the ongoing war with Ukraine, a report released by the BBC on Wednesday said.
Report said that Russia’s use of ‘Meat grinder’ tactics caused the high rate of casualties, which accelerated last year as inexperienced troops arrived on the front lines.
The BBC‘s Russian unit said it has been recording deaths since Moscow’s forces invaded the neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.
It noted that the rate of casualties accelerated in the second year of the conflict.
The tally, compiled by BBC Russian, independent media group Mediazona and volunteers saw the death toll rise to 27,300 Russian soldiers during the second year of the war, a 25 percent increase on the first year.
The Russian government has however, kept mum over the real figures, suggesting that it still held on to the official death toll it released in September 2022, which put the death toll just under 6,000 of its soldiers.
The BBC report however did not cover casualties among militia forces in Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, which means that the actual overall death toll is probably significantly higher than 50,000.
Similarly, Ukraine appears not to disclose the real casualty figures of the death of its troops.
It said in February that it had lost 31,000 soldiers but that figure is also widely thought likely to be lower than the true toll.
The Russian has reacted to the report saying it did not disclose information on military deaths and casualties, which falls under the remit of the defence ministry.
