**Russia Reveals Large Number of Missing Soldiers**
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anna Tsivilyova made a surprising comment on November 26. She said that the Russian ministry had received 48,000 applications for DNA tests from relatives seeking information about soldiers missing in action during the war against Ukraine.
This is a rare insight into the number of missing Russian troops. No official statistics have been released so far. Tsivilyova’s comments were made at a roundtable in the Russian State Duma, where she revealed that relatives’ DNA had been collected and stored in a database.
**Opposition to Sharing Information**
Andrei Kartapolov, head of the State Duma‘s defense committee, responded by cautioning against publicly discussing such numbers. He said, “This is sensitive information. When we finalize the documents, we should ensure these figures do not appear publicly.”
Tsivilyova clarified that the figure she cited referred to the number of relatives’ appeals, not confirmed missing soldiers. She added, “Many of them will be found. Therefore, this figure reflects appeals, not statistics.”
**Ukraine’s Assessment**
According to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Russia has lost 748,950 troops since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
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