Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the battlefield has witnessed a tragic loss of hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides. The exact casualty figures have been hard to determine due to the Kremlin’s suspected undercounting of its soldiers’ deaths in Ukraine. US officials have cautiously estimated that troop deaths and injuries could be around 500,000.
In the midst of this conflict, images of Ukrainian soldiers carrying the bodies of their fallen comrades off the battlefield have been a stark reminder of the human cost of war. In Russia, the impacts of the war can be observed in the expansion of cemeteries near the home garrisons of elite military units.
Satellite imagery has revealed new grids of gravesites appearing over the two-year war, with gravestones marking the lives lost in battle. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy highlighted the high ratio of casualties, with one Ukrainian soldier lost for every five Russian troops.
The UK Ministry of Defence predicts that Russia could lose over 500,000 troops by the end of 2024 if the current trend continues. These satellite images serve as a somber reflection of the mounting death toll in Russia as soldiers are sent into the brutal frontline battles known as the “meat grinder.”
One of the cemeteries identified in the satellite imagery is the Mikhaylovsk cemetery near Stavropol, Russia, associated with the 7th Guards Airborne Division. Russian media reported the division’s commanding general, Andrei Sukhovetsky, was killed in combat in March 2022.
Another cemetery near Feodosiya, Crimea, known as the Blyzhnie cemetery, is also linked to the 7th Guards Airborne Division. Additionally, the Bogorodskoye cemetery near Ryazan, Russia, connected to the 106th Guards Airborne Division, has seen new gravesites appearing on satellite images, indicating the toll of the war.
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