After nearly three years of its full-scale war against Ukraine, Russia has lost at least 6,083 elite soldiers to combat, whose training took years and millions of dollars, according to the BBC Russian service.
This figure includes only regular military personnel serving in elite units such as the Airborne Forces (VDV), Marine Corps, Ministry of Defense special forces, Rosgvardia, and military pilots. In total, based on open-source data, journalists have positively identified 88,055 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine.
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Investigation of losses among elite forces, that included Russia’s military intelligence directorate (GRU) special forces played a key role at the start of the full-scale invasion. During that time, they suffered the heaviest losses and were forced to be pulled back to rear areas for reorganization, being replaced on the front lines by mobilized personnel and prisoners who agreed to fight in exchange for release.
Even so, airborne and marine units continue to carry out important missions on the front lines and to suffer significant losses. On Sept. 1, 2022, it was reported that 900 elite Russian fighters had been killed, but by the start of 2025, the number of those killed exceeded 6,000.
These figures included:
- Airborne troops - 3,162
- Marines - 1,247
- GRU special forces - 577
- Military pilots - 267
- FSB and FSO personnel - 114
Regular soldiers from elite units remain a crucial part of the fighting on the front lines. They carry out special operations on the most critical areas of the front.
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For example, while Wagner PMC mercenaries used released prisoners for the assault on Bakhmut, airborne troops held the flanks. From 2022 to 2024, marines participated in the assault on Vuhledar, and now they are suffering losses in Russia’s Kursk region and continue to fight in Donetsk. In total, the losses of Russian airborne troops amount to at least 3,957.
By the start of 2025, the BBC recorded the death of 580 GRU special forces soldiers, of which 108, or nearly one in five, were officers – these are very serious losses, the training of special forces GRU personnel takes years.
To train even a lieutenant to the appropriate level takes at least four years at a military academy at a cost of hundreds of thousands of rubles. Then after graduation, a GRU special forces officer will receive several more years of training to gain operational experience.
The BBC report noted that the real losses of Russia in the war against Ukraine are likely to be much higher than those established through open sources. Military experts suggested that the publication’s data might cover only 45% to 65% of the actual number of casualties.
The journalists’ estimate, based on the figure of confirmed losses of 88,055 personnel, the actual number of Russian casualties could be as high as 135,000 or even 196,000.
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