Russian courts have been flooded with claims about soldiers who are missing or dead. This is a big increase from previous years.
Before the war, Russian courts handled around 8,000 such cases every year. But in mid-2024, the number of cases started to rise sharply. In total, there were 20,000 claims made last year.
Most of these claims were made by military unit commanders who wanted to remove soldiers from their rosters because they were missing and presumed dead. This means that units could replace them with new soldiers.
Families don’t have to agree to this process. It can leave them without financial support or clear information about what happened to their relatives.
The exact number of Russian soldiers who are still missing is not known. Courts often hide the names of applicants and avoid making their decisions public.
More than 50,000 Russians have asked Ukraine‘s “I Want to Find” project for help finding missing soldiers. The project was launched in 2022 as part of a hotline that helps Russian soldiers surrender.
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anna Tsivilyova revealed on November 26 that her ministry had received 48,000 DNA test applications from relatives hoping to locate missing soldiers.
The General Staff of Ukraine‘s Armed Forces estimates that Russia has lost over 840,000 troops since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022.