Rosstat Hack Data Obtained: Hackers Claim 393,881 Russian War Dead
Two hacker groups say they stole 23 terabytes from Russia's statistics agency Rosstat and counted between 393,881 and 450,100 Russian deaths in the Ukraine war. Journalists at Meduza and Mediazona are now checking whether the leaked files are authentic and complete.
Hacker groups Kiberpartizany BY and Silent Crow said they stole about 23 terabytes of data from Russia's Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) and used it to estimate that between 393,881 and 450,100 Russians have died in the war in Ukraine as of August 27, 2026. The Rosstat hack data obtained by the groups has not been independently confirmed.
The groups say the haul includes internal documents, demographic and economic statistics, and information on Russian losses since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Two counts, two methods
Kiberpartizany BY puts the toll at at least 393,881. It counted deaths in which military action or its consequences were listed as the cause.
Silent Crow gives a higher figure of 450,100. It added non-combat losses among military personnel and deaths marked as terrorist acts. It also counted people registered in Russia who died in occupied territories or in Ukraine where the exact cause of death was not established.
That difference in method explains the gap between the two estimates.
Why the numbers matter
Russia has not released official statistics on combat losses since September 2022. From 2024, Rosstat also stopped publishing annual data on causes of death. Both moves have made it much harder to judge the war's demographic impact independently.
Access to the agency's internal records could allow a more accurate assessment of the human cost, if the material proves genuine.
The hackers' range sits close to earlier independent work. A joint media database of Russian servicemen identified by name held around 286,000 names as of November 8, though that list is known to be incomplete, especially for recent months.
A joint study by Meduza and Mediazona, based on inheritance registry data, estimated roughly 350,000 fallen Russian servicemen by the end of 2025. The match with those figures does not prove the accuracy of any single number in the leak.
Verification under way
Meduza and Mediazona said they have obtained the published data and begun checking it. They want to establish whether the files are authentic and how complete they are. They also need to rule out deliberate falsification.
The data has other limits. Causes of death in medical documents do not always reflect what actually happened to a person. Rosstat's internal databases do not hold up-to-date information on people listed as missing, who may be declared dead only after a long period.
Even genuine state statistics therefore cannot automatically give a definitive figure for Russian military losses. If authenticity and completeness are confirmed, the files could become one of the largest sources on the war's demographic consequences for Russia.
