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- Russian draftees killed in the war lasted an average four and a half months, per a new report.
- It used open source data on the deaths of 3,000 mobilized troops over the past year.
- More than half of the dead draftees were between the ages of 30 and 45, the report said.
Mobilized Russian troops who died in Ukraine were, on average, killed just four and a half months after their deployment, per a new investigative report.
Using open source data on the deaths of about 3,000 mobilized troops, independent Russian outlets Important Stories and the Conflict Intelligence Team calculated an estimated “life expectancy in war” for those called up to fight.
They noted in a Thursday report that the actual number of Russian casualties could be far higher. The outlets said they compiled their list with help from newspaper announcements or messages from officials and relatives.
At least 130 mobilized troops died in their first month of mobilization, and 20% of the 3,000 deaths assessed occurred within the second month of deployment, per the outlets.
Over half of the mobilized dead were between 30 and 45 years old. At least one 19-year-old — said to be a volunteer — and one 62-year-old — a major — got killed in battle, they added.
About 10% of the deceased troops were under 25, per their findings.
The report detailed the lives and deaths of some men, such as a 24-year-old who died on August 25. He had been called away three months after the birth of his son, it said.
Two brothers, Igor and Dmitry Dadanov, died on the same day after being mobilized, leaving behind four orphans, per the joint report. Igor Dadanov was 33 years old, it added.
Conflict Intelligence Team analysts said the varying intensity of the fighting over different months heavily influenced the life expectancy of mobilized troops.
The most intense periods of wartime conflict were in the fall of 2022 and spring of 2023, the analysts said.
And though mobilized troops were promised vacation breaks, many have yet to be given their time off because Russian commanders are afraid it will give troops a chance to desert, the analysts added.
Thursday marks the first anniversary of the Kremlin announcing its wildly unpopular mobilization on September 21, 2022. Russian leader Vladimir Putin said that the Russian army would draft 300,000 reservists for the war effort to shore up a manpower shortage, with many draftees deployed to combat units.
Some were trained for less than 10 days, according to an October report by The New York Times.
Mobilized troops have repeatedly reported being sent to the front lines as cannon fodder or abandoned by their commanders.
Almost 500,000 Ukrainian and Russian troops have been killed or wounded in the war, US officials said in August.
The number of Russian dead was close to 120,000 at the time, while 70,000 Ukrainian troops have died, per US estimates.
The same month, researchers working with the BBC say they identified more than 30,000 dead Russian soldiers by name.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.
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