The War in Donbas's deadliest phase (pre-2022) occurred before theMinsk agreements, aimed at ceasefire and settlement. Despite varied reports on Ukrainian military casualties due to underreporting, official figures eventually tallied, indicating significant military and civilian casualties on both sides. The war also saw a substantial number of missing and captured individuals, with efforts to exchange prisoners between conflicting parties. Foreign fighters and civilian casualties added to the war's complexity, with international involvement and impacts extending beyond the immediate conflict zones.
The subsequent Russian invasion of Ukraine further escalated casualties and destruction. Conflicting reports from Russian and Ukrainian sources indicated high military and civilian casualties, with significant discrepancies in reported numbers. Foreign involvement continued, with both foreign fighters and civilian deaths reported. Efforts to identify and repatriate the deceased, alongside the treatment of prisoners of war, highlighted the human cost of the ongoing conflict.
During theRussian annexation of Crimea from 23 February through 19 March 2014, six people were killed. The dead included three protesters,[4][5][6] two Ukrainian soldiers[7] and one Russian Cossack paramilitary.[8] On 10 August 2016, Russia accused theSpecial Forces of Ukraine of conducting a raid near the Crimean town ofArmiansk which killed two Russian servicemen. The government of Ukraine dismissed the report as a provocation.[9] Ten people were forciblydisappeared between 2014 and 2016 and were still missing as of 2017.[10]
Civilian casualties of the war in DonbasA mural of Ukrainian soldiers who died during the war in Donbas in 2014
The overall number of estimated deaths in thewar in Donbas from 6 April 2014 to 31 December 2021 was 14,200–14,400. This included about 6,500 pro-Russian separatist fighters, 4,400 Ukrainian fighters, and 3,404 civilians.[1] This number includes non-combat military deaths, as well as deaths from mines andunexploded ordnance. The vast majority of the deaths took place in the first year of the war, when major combat took place before theMinsk agreements.
Initially, the known number of Ukrainian military casualties varied widely due to the Ukrainian Army drastically understating its casualties,[16] as reported by medics, activists and soldiers on the ground, as well as at least one lawmaker.[16][17][18][19] Several medical officials reported they were overstretched due to the drastic number of casualties.[16] Eventually, theUkrainian Defence Ministry stated that the numbers recorded by the National Museum of Military History were the official ones, although still incomplete,[20] with 4,535 deaths cataloged by 23 February 2022.[11]
According to theArmed Forces of Ukraine, 1,175 of the Ukrainian servicemen died due to non-combat causes by 5 March 2021.[21] Subsequently, the military did not publish new figures on their non-combat losses, stating they could be considered a state secret.[22]
The following table does not include the 298 deaths from the shootdown ofMalaysia Airlines Flight 17 or the deaths of Ukrainian servicemen, which are listed separately.
By 15 May 2016, the Donetsk region's prosecutors reported 1,592 civilians had gone missing in government-controlled areas, of whom 208 had been located.[30] At the same time, a report by the United Nations stated 1,331–1,460 people were missing, including at least 378 soldiers and 216 civilians. 345 unidentified bodies, of mostly soldiers, were also confirmed to be held at morgues in theDnipropetrovsk Oblast or buried.[31] In all, as of late October, 774 people were missing according to the government,[32] including 271 soldiers.[33] By the end of December 2017, the number of confirmed missing on the Ukrainian side was 402,[34] including 123 soldiers.[35] The separatists also reported 433 missing on their side by mid-December 2016,[36] and 321 missing by mid-February 2022.[37]
As of mid-March 2015, according to theSecurity Service of Ukraine (SBU), 1,553 separatists had been released from captivity during prisoner exchanges between the two sides.[38] Subsequently, Ukraine released another 316 people by late February 2016, according to the DPR and other media reports,[39][40][41][42] while by September, 1,598 security forces members and 1,484 civilians had been released by the rebels.[43] 1,110 separatist fighters and supporters, including 743 civilians, were reportedly still being held by Ukrainian forces as of late March 2016, according to the DPR.[44] They updated the figure of separatist prisoners to 816, including 287–646 civilians, in December.[45][36] At the end of May 2015, the Ukrainian commander of Donetsk airport, Oleg Kuzminykh, who was captured duringthe battle for the complex, was released.[46]
In December 2017, a large prisoner exchange took place where the rebels released 73 out of 176 prisoners they were holding, while Ukraine released 306 out of 380 of their prisoners. Out of those that were released by Ukraine, 29 brought to the exchange point refused to go back to separatist-held territory, while 40 who were already previously released did not show up for the exchange. Meanwhile, out of those released by the rebels, 32 were soldiers. This brought the overall number of prisoners released by the rebels to 3,215.[34] Among those still held by the separatists, 74 were soldiers.[47] The number of released prisoners was updated to 3,233 in early March 2019.[48] At the end of December 2019, a new prisoner exchange took place, with Ukraine releasing 124 separatist fighters and their supporters, while 76 prisoners, including 12 soldiers, were returned to Ukraine by the rebels. Another five or six prisoners released by the separatists decided to stay in rebel-controlled territories.[49][50][51] The last exchange took place on 16 April 2020, with the separatists releasing 20 people, including 17 civilians, in exchange for 14.[52][53] while 214 remained in captivity.[54]
Foreign fighters
Foreign volunteers have been involved in the conflict, fighting on both sides. The NGOCargo 200 reported that they documented the deaths of 1,479 Russian citizens while fighting as part of the rebel forces.[55] TheUnited States Department of State estimated 400–500 of these were regular Russian soldiers.[15] Two Kyrgyz and one Georgian have also been killed fighting on the separatist side.[56] Additionally, at least 253 foreign-born Ukrainian citizens or foreigners died on the Ukrainian side.[57] One of those killed was the former Chechen rebel commanderIsa Munayev.[58]
In late August 2015, according to a reported leak by a Russian news site, Business Life (Delovaya Zhizn), 2,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in Ukraine by 1 February 2015.[59][60]
As a consequence of the conflict, large swaths of the Donbas region have become contaminated with landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW).[66] According to the UNHumanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, in 2020 Ukraine was one of the countries most affected by ERW in the world, and had had nearly 1,200 casualties caused by mines or ERW since the beginning of the conflict in 2014.[67] A report byUNICEF released in December 2019 said that 172 children had been injured or killed due to landmines and other explosives.[68]
Ukrainian estimates of Russian military losses tended to be high, while Russian estimates of their own losses tended to be low. Combat deaths can be inferred from a variety of sources, includingsatellite imagery and video image of military actions.[69] According to a researcher at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research atUppsala University in Sweden, regarding Russian military losses, Ukraine engaged in a misinformation campaign to boost morale and Western media were generally happy to accept its claims, while Russia was "probably" downplaying its own casualties. Ukraine also tended to be quieter about its own military fatalities.[70] According toBBC News, Ukrainian claims of Russian fatalities included the injured as well.[71][72][73] Western countries emphasized the Russian military's toll, while Russian news outlets have largely stopped reporting on the Russian death toll.[74] In early June 2022, the Svetlogorsk City Court in the Kaliningrad region ruled that a list of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, published by privately owned news websites, constituted "classified information" and its publication could be considered a criminal offense.[75]
Information on military casualties is a state secret in both Russia and Ukraine, while the Ukrainian government has been especially secretive, restricting access to demographic data that could be used to estimate its losses. In addition, Western intelligence agencies have been reluctant to disclose their internal calculations of Ukrainian military casualties for fear of undermining an ally. American officials previously said that Ukraine withholds this information from even its closest allies.[76]
Political scientistNeta Crawford estimated 323,000 dead in the war by July 2025, with an average rate of 7,690 killed per month—surpassing the average of 2,826 killed per month in theGaza war and 772 killed in theWar in Afghanistan (2001–2021). According to Crawford, while civilians accounted for 80 percent of the fatalities in the Gaza War and 26 percent in the War in Afghanistan, four percent of those killed in Ukraine were civilians.[79]
Breakdown
Casualties
Time period
Source
Civilians in Ukraine
14,534 killed,38,472 wounded[d] (confirmed minimum, thought higher)
In September 2022, Russia'sMinistry of Defence confirmed that 5,937 Russian soldiers had been killed in combat.[111] In addition, the DPR confirmed that by 22 December 2022, 4,163 of their servicemen had been killed and 17,329 wounded.[j] Subsequently,leaked US intelligence documents cited the RussianFSB that Russian forces suffered 110,000 casualties by 28 February 2023.[114] Wagner PMC chiefYevgeny Prigozhin confirmed that his organization had lost over 20,000 troops killed by 25 May 2023.[115] He went on to claim that overall, the Russian military had lost 120,000 dead in Ukraine by late June 2023. He accused the Ministry of Defence of systematically downplaying Russian losses.[116]
According toBBC News Russian and theMediazona news website, out of 149,241 Russian soldiers and contractors whose deaths they had documented by 20 November 2025, 4 percent (6,024) were officers, while 9.2 percent (13,760) were Motorized Rifle Troops and 2.7 percent (4,045) were members of theRussian Airborne Forces (VDV). In addition, 10.6 percent (15,872) of Russian soldiers whose deaths had been confirmed were people who weremobilized, while 12.7 percent (19,023) wereconvicts.[101] The BBC further stated that
The actual toll is likely much higher than can be determined through open sources. Military experts we interviewed suggest that our analysis of Russian cemeteries, war memorials, and obituaries may account for between 45% and 65% of the real death toll.
Thus, the BBC stated that the actual death toll of Russian forces, counting only Russian servicemen and contractors (i.e. excluding DPR/LPR militia), was 226,541–327,226 by mid-November 2025.[101]
Monument to Ukrainian soldiers killed in the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2022.[117]
Postage stamps depicting Russian soldiers killed in the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2022.
TheCenter for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found that more Russian soldiers died in the first year of the war in Ukraine than in all its other wars since World War II combined, an average 5,000 to 5,800 soldiers a month, vs 13,000 to 25,000 inChechnya over 15 years and 14,000 to 16,000 inAfghanistan. Thus, the first year of the Ukraine war was 25 times deadlier than Chechnya and 35 times more so than Afghanistan.[118]
Meduza, analyzing data on confirmed soldiers killed and data retrieved from the Russianprobate registry, estimated 75,000 Russian soldiers were killed since the start of the invasion and by the end of 2023, a statistical estimate within a wide range of between 66,000 and 88,000 killed.[119] Subsequently, several months later,Meduza gave a new estimate of 64,000 soldiers killed in 2022 and 2023, based on excess deaths reported byRosstat, including those in Crimea, but not other Ukrainian regions seized by Russia.[120] Using a similar analysis, but in addition using a statistical model of the ratio of total deaths to deaths confirmed by name, stratified by age group, and theMediazona updated counts of named deaths,Meduza gave an updated estimate of total Russian deaths of 120,000 killed through to 30 June 2024.[121] Several days later,The Economist made its own calculation using the severely-wounded-to-killed ratio from leaked documents by theUnited States Department of Defense, giving an estimate of between 462,000 and 728,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded since the start of the conflict. According to their estimate, approximately 2% of all Russian men between the ages of 20 and 50 may have been killed or seriously wounded in Ukraine since February 2022.[122] By the end of 2024,Meduza estimated that over 165,000 Russian soldiers had died during the war.[123]
According to NATO and Western military officials, around 1,200 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in Ukraine every day on average in May and June 2024.[124][125] In July 2024,Chief of the General Staff of the British ArmySir Roland Walker said that with the current way of fighting, it would take Russia five years to control the four regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia thatRussia claims as its own, and it would cost Russia from 1.5 to 1.8 million casualties.[126] He said there are "no winners" in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, adding that "it is an utter devastation for both sides and lost generations."[127] By August 2024, the daily average of Russian military casualties in the conflict was about 1,000 soldiers, according to a Western official.[128]
In late January 2025,The New York Times reported that analysts concluded that Russia's losses, including killed and severely injured, were slightly fewer than two soldiers for every Ukrainian soldier killed or severely wounded, after they combined multiple different estimates of Ukrainian losses.[76]
In June 2025, Russia's ambassador to the UKAndrey Kelin denied that Russian casualties in the war in Ukraine had reached one million, but refused to give the actual number of casualties, telling CNN that there were about 600,000 Russian troops in Ukraine, down from 700,000 in June 2024, and that 50–60,000 new troops were being recruited and sent to Ukraine every month.[129]
In October 2025,Institute for the Study of War (ISW) cited alleged leaked Russian data published by theI Want to Live hotline operated by theMain Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine, according to which Russia suffered 281,550 total losses between January and August 2025, including: 86,744 killed, 33,996 missing and 158,529 wounded.[130][131][132] TheMediazona's data department's analysis of the published list concluded that "significant anomalies" were revealed, stating the figures in the leak appeared "questionable", but also that it "appears plausible, to put it cautiously, albeit at the very highest end of the probable range" and questioned certain figures like losses reported for the "Dnepr" group or abnormally high killed-to-wounded ratio, though acknowledging that the "grey zone" between front lines means the wounded are often left with very little chance of survival.[133][134] According to online intelligence groupFrontelligence Insight the numbers appeared to be "fairly accurate", and some other groups agreed with this assessment.[134]
According to aUKDefence Intelligence report on 14 October 2025, Russia suffered approximately 1.118 million total casualties since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, including 332,000 casualties since 1 January. According to the report, Russia's casualty rate reached its high in December of 2024 with 1,570 losses per day on average. Afterwards it was gradually decreasing and dropped to 930 daily casualties in August. It has been steadily increasing again since then, surpassing 1,000 daily casualties between October 5–12.[135]
An analysis published byThe Economist on 17 October 2025, based on data from satellites and "more than 200 credible estimates of casualties from Western governments and independent researchers", stated that Russia's total casualty toll had increased by 60% since the start of the year, with over 100,000 soldiers reportedly killed since the beginning of 2025. According to the report, even if the total number of Ukrainian soldiers killed since the start of 2025 was twice the tally reported by the UALosses project, it would still result in a ratio of "roughly five Russian soldiers killed for one Ukrainian". The report also stated that the number of Russian soldiers killed in the war amount to 0.5%–1.2% of the country's pre-war cohort of men under the age of 60.[97]
Ukrainian losses
Ukraine confirmed it had 10,000 killed and 30,000 wounded by the start of June 2022,[136] while 7,200 troops were missing,[137] including 5,600 captured.[138] At the height of the fighting in May and June 2022, according to Ukrainian president Zelenskyy and presidential advisorMykhailo Podolyak, between 100 and 200 Ukrainian soldiers were being killed in combat daily,[139][140] while presidential adviserOleksiy Arestovych said 150 soldiers were being killed and 800 wounded daily.[141] Mid-June,Davyd Arakhamia, Ukraine's chief negotiator with Russia, toldAxios that between 200 and 500 Ukrainian soldiers were killed every day.[142] By late July, Ukrainian daily losses fell to around 30 killed and about 250 wounded.[140] In August 2023,The New York Times quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying that up to 70,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed and 100,000 to 120,000 wounded.[143][144][145] However, a new estimate by a U.S. official in October 2024, put the number of Ukrainian casualties at more than 57,500 killed and 250,000 wounded.[146] As of 25 February 2024, Ukraine confirmed 31,000 of its soldiers had been killed in the conflict.[147] In late November 2024, based on all previous estimates of Ukrainian military casualties,The Economist estimated Ukrainian losses at between 60,000 and 100,000 killed and 400,000 wounded.[148] On 8 December 2024,US president-electDonald Trump claimed 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and seriously wounded so far during the war. Subsequently, President Zelenskyy announced 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 370,000 were wounded, but that "approximately 50%" of these soldiers recovered and had returned to active duty.[149] He updated the Ukrainian military's casualty toll in mid-February 2025, to over 46,000 killed and 380,000 wounded.[94]
Russia's Ministry of Defence claimed 61,207 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 49,368 wounded by September 2022.[150] Mid-December 2024, Russia updated its claim of Ukrainian military casualties to almost 1,000,000 killed and wounded.[89]
According to the UALosses project started at the end of 2023, found to be reliable by Mediazona, Meduza, the Book of Memory group, BBC News Russian and The Economist, themselves also running projects tracking military fatalities in the conflict,[151][152][153][90] it had documented by name the deaths of 79,213 Ukrainian fighters as of 21 October 2025, as well as 81,728 missing in action, for a total of 160,941 dead or missing since the start of the invasion,[12] including non-combat losses.[91]
As of mid-April 2023, around 7,000 Ukrainian soldiers remained missing, of whom some 60-65 per cent were believed to be prisoners.[154] The number of missing was updated to 63,000 by mid-February 2025, 90 percent of which were thought to be soldiers.[95]
Yuriy Lutsenko, the former Ukrainian Prosecutor General and member of the opposition partyEuropean Solidarity, said on Ukrainian television in January 2024 that around 500,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed or wounded, and that about 30,000 were becoming casualties every month.[155]
Regions and officers
Men from the poverty-stricken regions of Russia'sFar North,Far East andSiberia were overrepresented among Russian war casualties.[156]Buryats,Kalmyks,Tuvans,Chukchi, andNenets were reported as Russia'sethnic minority groups suffering disproportionately high casualty rates among Russian forces.[157] On the Ukrainian side, per UA Losses, as of 21 October 2025, theDnipropetrovsk Oblast has the highest number of confirmed Ukrainian soldiers dead or missing at 15,661, while theKirovohrad Oblast has the highest confirmed death and missing count per capita at 7.029 per 1,000.[158]
In terms of confirmed deaths of officers of both belligerents, according to groups collecting that information, 6,024 Russian officers had been killed as of 20 November 2025,[101] and 6,418 Ukrainian officers were dead as of 21 October 2025.[159]
By 31 October 2025, OHCHR had recorded 53,006 civilian casualties in Ukraine since 24 February 2022: 14,534 killed and 38,472 injured, but said they believe the real number is higher. This included 45,713 (11,782 killed and 33,931 injured) occurred on territory covered by the government of Ukraine and 7,293 (2,752 killed and 4,541 injured) on territory controlled by Russian armed forces or their affiliates. 12,715 deaths were caused by explosive weapons "with wide area effects", 467 by mines and explosive remnants, 1,352 by small arms, including from crossfire, or road accidents involving military or civilian vehicles.[80]
As of 30 June 2023, OHCHR said it had received information on 287 civilian casualties inWestern Russia, with 58 killed and 229 injured, while six more were killed and 16 injured in theRepublic of Crimea.[160] Another two civilians were killed and one injured ina Ukrainian drone attack on the Crimean bridge on 17 July 2023,[161] while five civilians were killed and 151 were injured by a Ukrainian missile attack inSevastopol, in Crimea, on 23 June 2024.[162]Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-installed head of Crimea, also alleged that a Ukrainian attack on drilling platforms in theBlack Sea near Crimea had left sevenChernomorneftegaz workers missing.[163] The7x7 Russian opposition media outlet confirmed the deaths of 394 civilians in Russia by 25 December 2024, not including those in Crimea.[85] In addition,missiles struck the Polish border village ofPrzewodów inLublin Voivodeship on 15 November 2022, and killed two Polish civilians.[164] Elsewhere,Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 was mistakenly shot down and crashed atAktau,Kazakhstan, on 25 December 2024, killing 38 people,[165] including 23 Azerbaijanis, seven Russians, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyz.[166]
In April 2022, the civilian death toll included more than 200 children.[167] In March 2022, 55 of the war-related child deaths were from the Kyiv area and another 34 were from Kharkiv.[168] On 17 February 2023, the Ukrainianprosecutor general announced that at least 461 children had been killed since the start of the invasion, with a further 923 wounded.[169] Most of these child victims were from theDonetsk region.[169]
By February 2023, Ukrainian chief prosecutor for war crimes Yuriy Belousov claimed that "there could be 100,000 civilians killed across Ukraine, whose bodies will have to be found and identified once occupied territory is liberated."[170] A Project on Defense Alternatives study calculated a "modest" figure of 40,000 Ukrainian civilian dead by April 2023.[171] In May 2023, US officials claimed Ukrainian civilian deaths were at 42,000, twice the then-estimated figure for Ukrainian military losses.[172] According to theKyiv Independent, Russia does not allow monitoring in territories it controls, where civilian deaths are thought to be highest.[173]
Ukrainian humanitarian NGOs estimate that 7,000–30,000 Ukrainian civilians have been abducted by Russian forces from territories under their control. One group estimated 70,000 civilians were abducted. Many of them are reported to be held in Russian prisons and penal colonies, and some reportedly died (e.g.Victoria Roshchyna).[174]
Civilian deaths by area (Ukrainian-controlled & formerly Ukrainian-controlled)
At least 217 foreign citizens civilians from 27 countries are confirmed to have been killed during the war within Ukraine and outside it. Over 70 missing from Azerbaijan were also reported.
Paul Urey and Dylan Healy, two British aid workers, were captured by Russian forces.[337] Healy was charged with 'forcible seizure of power' and undergoing 'terrorist' training,[338] but later released on 21 September 2022,[339] while Urey died in captivity.[315] An American citizen was also detained by pro-Russian separatists forces and accused of 'participation in pro-Ukrainian protests'.[340] He was released on 28 October 2022,[341] and reached Ukrainian-controlled territory by 14 December.[342]
Foreign fighters
Excluding the Russian and Ukrainian military casualties, at least 2,056–2,367 combatants, foreign citizens or foreign-born, were killed during the war. By January 2023, another 1,000 had been wounded while fighting on the Ukrainian side.[343] Below is a list of the nationalities of foreign combatant casualties.
Dead foreign fighters of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Two Peruvians, an Azerbaijani, a Colombian, a Czech, and a Estonian foreign fighter were also reported missing while fighting alongside the Ukrainian military,[615] and 50 Nepalese, 16 Indians and three Belarusians went missing while fighting for Russia.[546][616][601] Russian sources also presented the passport of an American fighter who was claimed to have either been killed or captured, although this was not confirmed.[617]
Identification, repatriation and exchanges
Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations, announced on 27 February 2022, that the country had reached out to theInternational Committee of the Red Cross for help in the repatriation effort of the bodies of killed Russian soldiers.[618] Due to concerns that Russia was not reporting the number or any casualties of soldiers in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry began issuing appeals that same day for relatives of Russian soldiers to help identify wounded, captured, or killed soldiers. The initiative, calledIshchi Svoikh (Russian:Ищи Своих,lit.'Look for Your Own'), appeared aimed in part at undermining morale and support for the war in Russia and was quickly blocked by the Russian government's media regulator the day the initiative began at the request of Russia's Prosecutor-General's Office.[619][70]
Ukrainian authorities began usingfacial recognition technology supplied to them byClearview AI on 12 March 2022, to help identify the deceased, along with potentially using it to uncover Russian spies, vet people at checkpoints and potentially combat misinformation. The Chief Executive of Clearview claimed that the technology could be more effective than matchingfingerprints or other identifiable aspects of the individual, although a study byUS Department of Energy raised concerns about decomposition reducing its effectiveness.[620] Kyiv authorities have also reached out to theInternational Commission on Missing Persons, which was formed to help after the1990s Balkan conflicts and the1995 Srebrenica massacre, and identifies individuals by collectingDNA samples from the deceased and families tocross match. The organization will also document the location of the body and how the individual died.[621]
As Russian soldiers began to retreat the identification of the dead civilians who had been unreported due to communication issues and constant fighting began to be reported. Documentation and identification of the bodies began with many hastily dug graves and rubble being cleared away to photograph and identify the bodies as well as count the number involved. Handwritten tags and passports have been attached to the bodies after identification before they are taken by coroners and officials.[622] In some locations villagers kept track of the deceased, such as inYahidne, a village north of Kyiv, where they used a school basement wall to write the names of the deceased while under Russian control.[623]
As of late May 2022, Ukrainian authorities had stored at least 137 bodies of Russian soldiers that were collected near Kyiv,[624] as well as 62 in the Kharkiv region.[625]
In December 2024, Russia's Deputy Minister of DefenceAnna Tsivilyova mentioned 48,000 soldiersmissing in action for whom relatives have contributed DNA samples as part of search applications.[645]
Amputations
16-year-old victim of aland mine in Kharkiv region
On 2 August 2023, an investigation byThe Wall Street Journal found that Ukrainian medical amputations in the war came to between 20,000 and 50,000 including both military and civilians.[646] In August 2025, theNational Institute of Strategic Studies [uk] reported that officially, theNational Health Service of Ukraine recorded 95,000 amputations carried out in Ukraine on military personnel and civilians. Including amputations carried outside Ukraine the number was as high as 120,000.[647] In comparison, duringWorld War One 41,000 British and 67,000 Germans needed amputations.[646]
Russia reported it had captured 572 Ukrainian soldiers by 2 March 2022,[648] while Ukraine stated 562 Russian soldiers were being held as prisoners as of 19 March,[649] with 10 previously reported released in prisoner exchanges for five Ukrainian soldiers and the mayor ofMelitopol,Ivan Fedorov.[650][651] Subsequently, the first large prisoner exchange took place on 24 March, when 10 Russian and 10 Ukrainian soldiers, as well as 11 Russian and 19 Ukrainian civilian sailors, were exchanged.[652][653][654] Among the released Ukrainian soldiers was one of 13 Ukrainian border-guard members captured during the Russianattack on Snake Island.[655] Later, on 1 April 86 Ukrainian servicemen were exchanged[656] for an unknown number of Russian troops.[657]
Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S.,Oksana Markarova, reported that a platoon of the74th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade fromKemerovo Oblast surrendered to Ukraine, saying they "didn't know that they were brought to Ukraine to kill Ukrainians".[658] Ukraine held a series of press conferences with about a dozen POWs, where the POWs made comments against the invasion, how they had been manipulated and for the conflict to end. According toThe Guardian, while it was likely that Ukraine was using the discomfort of captured soldiers for propaganda purposes, still the videos succeeded in showing the Russian servicemen's "authentic sense" of regret for having come to Ukraine.[659]Amnesty International said that Article 13 of theThird Geneva Convention prohibits videos of captured soldiers.[660] Captured Ukrainian soldiers with British citizenship were recorded calling forBoris Johnson to arrange for them to be freed in exchange for pro-Kremlin Ukrainian politicianViktor Medvedchuk.MP Robert Jenrick called the videos, broadcast separately onRussia-24, a "flagrant breach" of the Geneva Convention. A Russian spokeswoman claimed that she told Johnson in a phone call about the men's treatment that the UK should "show mercy" to Ukrainian citizens by stopping military aid to the Ukrainian government when asked to show the men mercy.[661]
The head of the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for POW Treatment,Iryna Vereshchuk, raised concerns that Russia had not released information to Ukrainian authorities on the location of any Ukrainian POW's and the International Red Cross had not been allowed to see them, as of 16 March.[662]
By 21 April, Russia claimed that 1,478 Ukrainian troops had been captured during the course of thesiege of Mariupol.[663] On 22 April, Yuri Sirovatko, Minister of Justice of the Donetsk People's Republic, claimed that some 3,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war were held in the territory of the DPR.[664] On 20 May, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that 2,439 Ukrainian soldiers had been taken prisoner over the previous five days as a result of the surrender of the last defenders of Mariupol, entrenched inside theAzovstal Iron and Steel Works.[665] On 26 May, Rodion Miroshnik, ambassador of theLuhansk People's Republic to Russia, claimed that around 8,000 Ukrainian POWs were held within the territory of the DPR and LPR.[666] According to a statement bySergei Shoigu,Russia's Minister of Defence, in early June 2022, 6,489 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[667]
In a report byThe Independent on 9 June, it cited an intelligence report that more than 5,600 Ukrainian soldiers had been captured, while the number of Russian servicemen being held as prisoners had fallen to 550, from 900 in April, following several prisoner exchanges.[138] In contrast, theUkrainska Pravda newspaper claimed 1,000 Russian soldiers were being held as prisoners as of 20 June.[citation needed]
According to Ukraine, as of mid-November 2023, 4,337 Ukrainians were being held by Russia as prisoners of war, including 3,574 soldiers and 763 civilians,[668] while by this point 2,598 Ukrainians had been released,[669] including 133 civilians.[670] As of early June 2024, according to Russia, 6,465 Ukrainian soldiers were still being held prisoner in Russia and 1,348 Russian soldiers were prisoners in Ukraine,[671] while by this point 3,210 Ukrainians had been confirmed released,[672] including 143 civilians.[670] By 24 August 2025, the number of prisoners released by Russia during prisoner exchanges rose to 6,095,[673][674][675] including more than 240 civilians.[676][677][674][675] An additional 555 Ukrainians were released by Russia outside of the exchanges.[673] At least 800 Russian soldiers had also been confirmed to have been released by late February 2023.[678] Between August 2024 and March 2025, 971 Russian soldiers had been captured duringfighting in Kursk Oblast, according to Ukraine.[679] As of the beginning of February 2025, 1,382 Russian servicemen that were previously thought missing were confirmed to be in Ukrainian captivity, while the overall number of Russian prisoners of war was thought to be much higher.[680]
According to the UALosses project, 6,404 Ukrainian soldiers were being held as prisoners as of 23 April 2025.[681] By 21 October 2025, the number had fallen to 4,467.[12]
A study of Russian prisoners of war captured by Ukraine found that 55% of the soldiers had been motivated to fight to "improve their livelihoods", while 36% were ideologically motivated.[682]
^The deaths of the Russian soldiers have not been confirmed by their government and have possibly been included in the toll of dead rebel fighters.
^Out of the 1,185 civilians and militants killed in the Luhansk region by 15 February 2015,[24] 456 were civilians who died by 29 October.[25] In addition, 526 of the civilians and militants died inLuhansk city alone by 11 September,[26] of which 300 were confirmed as civilians by 31 August.[27]
^At least 176 foreign civilians from 25 countries are confirmed to have been killed within Ukraine.See table here for a detailed breakdown of deaths by nationalities.
^See table here for a detailed breakdown of civilian deaths by oblast, according to Ukrainian authorities.
^Some civilians have been reported to have died in captivity in Russia,[81] like journalistVictoria Roshchyna.[82]
^Including killed, captured, missing and wounded. Possibility of double-counting, as some soldiers could have been counted two or three times: as wounded, as captured, and then as killed.[99]
^abcIn addition, Ukraine claimed sixNorth Korean soldiers were killed in a missile strike in early October 2024, while fighting alongside Russian forces.South Korea's Defense Minister said of this report it was "highly likely" true.[108] However, Russia denied the reports.[109]
^The DPR stated 4,176 of its servicemen had been killed and 17,379 wounded between 1 January and 22 December 2022,[112][113] of which 13 died and 50 were wounded between 1 January and 25 February 2022,[13] leaving a total of 4,163 killed and 17,329 wounded in the period of the Russian invasion.
^The DPR stated 1,799 of its civilians were killed in its territories between 1 January 2022 and 22 December 2024,[289] of which 8 died between 1 January and 25 February 2022,[13] leaving a total of 1,791 killed in the period of the Russian invasion.
^The JCCC stated that 5,090 civilians had been killed since the start of the invasion by 7 October 2024:[290] 831 within the original borders of the DPR, and 3,831 killed in the areas since occupied by the DPR as of 29 August 2023.[291]
^The LPR stated that more than 900 civilians had been killed since the start of the invasion by 31 December 2022, both in the original borders of the LPR, and the areas since occupied by the LPR,[29] and including 169 deaths in Ukrainian artillery strikes on LPR territory.[292] In addition, according to the LPR, 72 more civilians were killed in artillery strikes in 2023,[293] leaving a total of more than 972 civilians deaths in LPR-controlled territories since the start of the invasion<
^The 38 people killed included: 23 Azerbaijanis, seven Russians, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyz.[166]
^Aid worker Paul Urey was captured by Russian forces on 29 April 2022 and died in detention on 15 July 2022. Aid workers Chris Parry and Andrew Bagshaw were killed in Bakhmut, the latter held dual UK and New Zealand citizenship.
^Killed by a quadcopter that dropped an explosive device on a vehicle at the Troebortnoye border checkpoint, in Russia'sBryansk Region
^By 19 October 2025, 23 Canadian nationals had been killed in Ukraine,[376][377][378][379] including one aid worker.[380]
^ab"Книга пам'яті загиблих" [Memorial Book to the Fallen].memorybook.org.ua (in Ukrainian).Archived from the original on 28 October 2022. Retrieved31 January 2015.
^ab"Russia bleeds troops for microscopic frontline gains".Politico. 13 October 2025. Retrieved15 October 2025.International open intelligence group Frontelligence Insight told POLITICO the leaked document appears to be fairly accurate and corresponds to the group's own estimates. "The figures we had at that time closely align with those in the document, suggesting the published number falls within the expected range," it said. Other online intelligence groups studying the war concur.
^Hilary Andersson (7 November 2022)."The agony of not knowing, as Mariupol mass burial sites grow". BBC. Retrieved30 September 2023.Ukrainian officials now believe that at least 25,000 people were killed in the fighting in Mariupol, and that 5,000-7,000 of them died under the rubble after their homes were bombed.
^ab"At Least 23 Armenians Have Died in Ukraine Conflict".asbarez. 6 April 2022.Davit Mkrtchyan, the deputy chairman of the Union of Armenians of Ukraine, said on Wednesday that 18 of them were civilians while the five others served in the Ukrainian military.
^"MVEP potvrdio smrt hrvatskog državljanina u Ukrajini".Vecernji (in Croatian). 16 September 2022.Andro Fabijanić worked for the association "For Heroes" from the city of Dnipro, which delivered bandages and other medical aid to Ukrainian fighters.
^"TS: Turku man dies fighting in Ukraine".yle. 15 April 2025.(Jussi Tanner, Head of Consular Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign affairs).. added that the ministry is aware of more than a dozen cases of dead or missing Finnish volunteer fighters in Ukraine.
^"The Ukrainian Lebanese are witnesses to the war.. and victims" (in Arabic). 1 April 2023. Retrieved3 June 2023.Therefore, a number of Lebanese-Ukrainian youths who hold the rank of lieutenant and have required specializations in the army were quickly accepted into its ranks. ...unfortunately, with the martyrdom of the young man, Hussein al-Mahdi, 38, who was originally from southern Lebanon, and the young man, Ahmed Omar Abu al-Aila Zakaria, from northern Lebanon, and they are two married young men who hold Ukrainian citizenships.
^More than 592 Russian prisoners were confirmed exchanged in 2023.[702][719][720] The number of released prisoners in four exchanges was not made known.[721][722][723][724]
^A total of 1,002 Ukrainian prisoners were exchanged in 2023,[5] including seven civilians[6][7][8][9].
^A series of prisoner exchanges started on 9 June 2025, and lasted until 23 July 2025.[16] During this time, around 1,200 Russian prisoners were released,[17] including at least two civilians.[18] In addition, Ukraine reported following the conclusion of the process that since the start of the conflict, 5,857 people had been released from Russian captivity during prisoner exchanges.[19] Before the latest exchange process, Ukraine confirmed 4,757 had been exchanged by Russia,[20] leaving a total of 1,100 prisoners released during the latest exchange, including more than 1,000 soldiers,[21] but also some civilians.[22]
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