Massive data leak about Russia’s losses in the war / Hackers estimate up to 450,000 military personnel killed

A data leak from Rosstat, Russia’s national statistics agency, indicates that more than 450,000 Russians have died so far in the war in Ukraine, according to Moscow’s official figures. The information was published following a cyberattack on the institution carried out between October 29 and November 1, 2026.

The data were obtained by the Belarusian hacker groups Belarus Cyber Partisans and Silent Crow, which are banned in Russia and designated by the Russian authorities as extremist organizations. They claimed to have stolen information about Russia’s economy and demographics, including data on wartime casualties.

The figure includes active-duty military personnel as well as civilians killed in airstrikes or during Ukraine’s 2024 incursion into the Kursk region. It does not include soldiers listed as missing or the approximately 27,000 foreign fighters believed to have been recruited by Russia.

Moscow has not officially published an accounting of front-line losses since September 2022. Rosstat’s assessment is close to British estimates, according to which more than 500,000 Russian military personnel may have died, while total casualties, including the wounded, could reach 1.5 million. The statistics indicate approximately 6.2 Russian deaths for every square kilometer of Ukrainian territory captured.