One of the biggest mysteries in Russia’s war in Ukraine is how many people have lost their lives fighting. Now, thanks to two groups of hackers, there’s a clearer picture.United24Media reports that Ukrainian and Belarusian hackers have managed to infiltrate and obtain confidential data from deep inside the Russian government.Among other things, the hackers managed to find the death certificates of over 11 million

people, revealing their age, residence, and place of death.Using this data from Russia’s state statistics agency, the leak shows that around 450,000 Russians have died because of the Kremlin’s war of aggression in Ukraine.However, given that these are internal official statistics used by Rosstat, the real number could be much higher.After all, some Russian soldiers have been reported missing, while many others have perished from injuries some time after fighting at the front.The leaked information doesn’t include the over 27,000 foreign nationals believed to be fighting under Russian command.Independent news outlet The Moscow Times comments that this makes war-related fatalities the fourth most common cause of death in Russia.Since September 2022, the Russian government headed by Vladimir Putin has refused to provide data relating to war casualties.If this data is correct, this means that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the deadliest conflict that Moscow has been fighting since the Second World War.The hack groups Silent Crow and the Belarus Cyber Partisans have claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on Rosstat.Both groups, labeled as “extremist organizations” by the Kremlin, stole official data on Russia’s economy and demographics on October 29 and November 1.“This is the most significant leak of data when it comes to Russian casualties,” Janis Kluge, head of the Russia and Eurasia division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told The Moscow Times.“I think it’s established as a fact that the war has never been more deadly than it is right now,” Kluge added.The data provided by the hackers seems to be in line with estimations made by Western intelligence agencies.According to the Moscow Times, the British Defense Ministry released a statement in early September assessing that half a million Russians had died in the war.However, some experts believe that the real number of Russian nationals killed and wounded could be as high as 1.5 million people.One thing is true: as the war continues to be fought, the number of those affected will only go up.