INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The BBC Russian service and news outlet Mediazona have confirmed the identity of around 45,000 Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine since
the invasion began in February 2022.The issue of military casualties is extremely sensitive in both countries
and a team of volunteers managed to establish the names of 45,123 Russian militaries who died in the war in Ukraine since February 2022,"
toll may be twice as high."Two-thirds of the dead we have identified had no links to the army prior to the invasion: volunteers, mobilized,
prisoners and private company recruits," BBC Russian said.After over a year of grinding trench warfare that failed to yield territorial
gains for either Moscow or Kyiv, the Kremlin is ramping up deployments to the front.President Vladimir Putin rarely acknowledges setbacks on
the battlefield, framing the almost two-year war as a battle for Russia's survival in a bid to rally patriotism.Ukraine also keeps its
military losses and casualties secret, although analysts believe they number in the tens of thousands after two years of fighting.
