Since the start of the invasion, the Russian Defense Ministry accounted for casualties only three times. The last time this happened was September 21, when the Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that 5,937 Russian soldiers had been killed in the war.

Mediazona and BBC News Russian have published a joint report of Russia’s war casualties, based on official documentation available through open sources. 7,184 documented deaths were the minimal toll as of October 7, based on open-source information.

The Ukrainian military’s General Staff states that, as of the morning of October 12, 63,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine.

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Thinking inside the box

Increasingly desperate for manpower in recent months, Russian authorities have started tapping a “resource” the country has plenty of: prisoners. If you think that sounds like it would have obvious drawbacks, you’re right.

Source: Russia’s ‘irrecoverable losses’ in Ukraine: more than 90,000 troops dead, disabled, or AWOL — Meduza