en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Russo-Ukrainian_war
2 corrections found
Thus, the first year of the Ukraine war was 25 times deadlier than Chechnya and 35 times more so than Afghanistan.
This sentence drops a crucial qualifier from the CSIS source. CSIS said the monthly rate of Russian deaths in Ukraine was 25x Chechnya and 35x Afghanistan—not the total first-year death toll.
Full reasoning
The cited CSIS analysis does not say that the first year of the war was 25 times deadlier than Chechnya and 35 times deadlier than Afghanistan in total deaths.
What CSIS actually wrote is that the average monthly rate of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine was at least 25 times the number killed per month in Chechnya and 35 times the number killed per month in Afghanistan. That is a rate comparison, not a total-deaths comparison.
CSIS also gives the underlying totals: about 60,000–70,000 Russian combat fatalities in Ukraine in the first year, versus about 13,000–25,000 in Chechnya over roughly 15 years and 14,000–16,000 in Afghanistan over about 10 years. Those totals imply Ukraine's first-year deaths were roughly 2–5 times those wars' totals, not 25x and 35x.
So the article has transformed a per-month attrition-rate comparison into a total-deaths comparison, which materially changes the meaning.
2 sources
- Ukrainian Innovation in a War of Attrition
The average rate of Russian soldiers killed per month is at least 25 times the number killed per month in Chechnya and 35 times the number killed in Afghanistan... In comparison, Russia suffered somewhere between 13,000 to 25,000 fatalities in Chechnya... The Soviet Union also suffered roughly 14,000 to 16,000 combat fatalities in Afghanistan.
- One Year Later: Russia's War in Ukraine | CSIS
Russia suffered more combat deaths in Ukraine in the first year of the war than in all of its wars combined since World War II. The average rate of Russian soldiers killed per month in Ukraine is 35 times greater than the number of Soviet soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
3.1 percent (7,656) were officers
The officer figure is inconsistent with published Mediazona/BBC updates and the percentage is mathematically wrong. 7,656 out of 266,032 is about 2.9%, not 3.1%.
Full reasoning
This claim has two separate problems.
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The percentage is arithmetically incorrect. If 7,656 out of 266,032 documented deaths were officers, that is about 2.88%, not 3.1%.
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The officer count is lower than an earlier published count from the same project. A 2 October 2026 report summarizing Mediazona/BBC data said that, as of 21 September 2026, Mediazona had already confirmed 7,692 dead Russian officers. A later official Mediazona English update then said that by 9 October 2026, the confirmed officer count had risen to 7,833. That makes the article's figure of 7,656 officers by 2 October 2026 inconsistent with the published reporting trend and lower than the previously reported 21 September figure.
So both the stated percentage and the 7,656 officer count are not reliable as written.
2 sources
- How many Russian soldiers died in the war with Ukraine
By October 9, 2026, the death of 7,833 officers of the Russian army and other security agencies had been confirmed.
- Mediazona and BBC identify names of over 258,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine - more than 10,000 names added in less than two weeks - 24 ore
According to data through September 21, Mediazona has confirmed the deaths of 7,692 Russian army officers and officers of other security agencies.