- Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago.
- US officials put the death toll and injuries from both sides at around half a million soldiers.
- Satellite imagery of Russian gravesites appears to reflect some of those mounting death tolls.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides have been killed in the field of battle.
Officials have struggled to provide an exact figure for casualties in part because the Kremlin is believed to undercount how many of its soldiers have died in Ukraine.
US officials have said, with caution, that the estimated troop death and injuries could be around 500,000, The New York Times reported in August.
Some of those losses have already been shown in countless images and footage of Ukranian soldiers carrying the bodies of their fellow troops off the battlefield and sometimes stacked together with other infantrymen.
In Russia, the war’s impacts can be seen in what appear to be expanding cemeteries near the home garrisons of “elite Russian military units,” according to Maxar Technologies, a private US-based satellite company, which shared satellite imagery with Business Insider.
The images show new grids of gravesites appearing over the course of the two-year war, dotted with what may be gravestones marking every death of another soldier.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier that aired Thursday that the ratio of casualties is one Ukrainian soldier for every five Russian troops.
The UK Ministry of Defence estimates that, at the current rate, Russia is on track to lose more than 500,000 troops by the end of 2024.
The satellite images are a quiet but solemn reminder of Russia’s mounting death toll as soldiers are thrown into the frontlines that have come to be called the “meat grinder.”
Mikhaylovsk cemetery near Stavropol, Russia
Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies
The cemetery is associated with the 7th Guards Airborne Division or 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division, according to Maxar.
Russian media reported in March 2022 that the division’s commanding general, Andrei Sukhovetsky, was killed in combat.
Blyzhnie cemetery near Feodosiya, Crimea
Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies
A cemetery near the town of Feodosiya, Crimea is also associated with the 7th Guards Airborne Division, according to Maxar.
Bogorodskoye cemetery near Ryazan, Russia
Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies
The cemetery near Ryazan, Russia, is associated with the 106th Guards Airborne Division, according to Maxar.
The image from April shows an entirely new grid to accommodate what appear to be more gravesites.
