Bloomberg: Russia’s leaked records show foreigners from nearly 100 countries died in its war on Ukraine

Russian records reveal that foreign fighters from nearly 100 countries perished in Moscow's war on Ukraine, according to leaked Rosstat death certificates obtained by hackers and analyzed by Bloomberg. The statistics agency reported 11,335 such deaths between February 2022 and August 2026. This represents a rare confirmation from Russia's own agency of the heavy reliance on foreign recruits, whom Ukraine estimates numbered nearly 46,000 in its army.

The dead were predominantly from former Soviet republics, shifting from Central and South Asia towards Latin America and Africa as the conflict progressed. Most of the fatalities came from these regions, followed by Ukrainian citizens mostly from Russian-occupied territories in the east and south. Around 80% of the rest were from other former Soviet states, with more than 6,000 individuals having taken Russian citizenship prior to their deaths.

As Russia sustained losses in the war, the recruitment pattern evolved, with foreign deaths rising from approximately 630 in 2022 to over 5,500 in 2025. This shift was evident in the geographical distribution of the dead, with notable declines among Nepalese, Sri Lankan, and Chinese casualties, while the toll among Colombians, Kenyans, and Nigerians surged in late 2025 and beyond.

The true extent of the toll likely surpasses these figures, with some fighters misclassified as missing, unidentified bodies, and 2026 records being incomplete. The data also notably omits North Korean deaths, despite the country providing thousands of troops to Russia, likely because they served in separate units rather than enlisting in the Russian army.

The leaked files came from a November hack that saw hackers steal around 23 terabytes of data from Rosstat, as part of a broader leak that claimed Russia's total war dead reached 450,100. Rosstat acknowledged the attack but denied any breach of its databases.