Hackers Claim to Have Stolen Russia's War Death Toll Data

Two hacker groups claim to have breached Russia's federal statistics agency, Rosstat, and obtained data showing 450,100 Russian soldiers have died since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. The pro-Ukrainian group "Silent Crow" and Belarusian opposition collective "Belarusian Cyber Partisans" published the figures on Telegram. The hackers said they accessed demographic databases containing census information and cause-of-death records, creating a website to display Russia's military losses. According to the data, Rosstat attributes roughly 356,000 deaths directly to "war operations," with about 57,000 more linked to war-related causes and 13,700 deaths in occupied territories from unknown causes. Independent outlets Mediazona and Meduza estimate at least 352,000 Russian dead as of December 2025, while both governments remain secretive about their own casualties. Ukraine's president reported 55,000 Ukrainian fighters killed, and observers note Russia's reliance on mass infantry assaults and drone surveillance has created a lethal "death zone" at the front.