The BBC and the independent Russian news site Mediazona have reported that they have documented the deaths of some 70,000 Russian soldiers since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The figures for the number of dead come from publicly available information, such as official statements, media reports of deaths and social media messages, as well as from gravestones in Russian cemeteries.
"We have identified the names of 70,112 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, but the actual number is believed to be significantly higher," the BBC said.
"Some families are not publicly sharing details of their relatives' deaths - and our analysis does not include names we have been unable to verify, or the deaths of fighters from Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine," the British broadcaster added.
In mid-August, the same two organisations had put the death toll at 66,000.
Mediazona and another independent Russian news site, Meduza, have also analysed official data from notaries on inheritance cases.
This led them to estimate that the number of military dead could be much higher - 120,000.
Data on the number of dead is considered secret in Russia.
Ukraine has also reported very little on casualties for fear of demoralizing its citizens after more than two and a half years of Russian invasion.
In February, President Volodymyr Zelensky said some 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died, although analysts and observers say they believe the real number is much higher.
"The Wall Street Journal reported that a total of one million soldiers on both sides have been killed or wounded in the war.
"A confidential Ukrainian estimate from earlier this year put the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed at 80,000 and the number wounded at 400,000, according to people familiar with the matter.
"Western intelligence estimates of Russian casualties vary, with some putting the number of dead at nearly 200,000 and the number of wounded at around 400,000," the report said.| BGNES
