Hackers claim Rosstat breach exposed data used to estimate Russian war deaths

Two hacker groups say they have breached Russia's Federal State Statistics Service and stolen around 23 terabytes of data. They claim the material includes internal documents, demographic and economic statistics, and information used to estimate Russian losses in the war against Ukraine. The alleged breach is sensitive because Russia has not published official combat-loss figures since 2022, and the statistics agency stopped releasing annual causes-of-death data from 2024.

The groups, identified in the supplied material as Kiberpartizany BY and Silent Crow, say the stolen data allowed them to calculate their own estimates of deaths since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Kiberpartizany BY said that as of 27 August 2026 at least 393,881 Russian citizens had been killed in the war. Silent Crow gave a higher figure of 450,100 dead, saying its method included combat deaths as well as other categories such as non-combat military losses, deaths recorded as terrorist acts, and deaths of people registered in Russia but who died in occupied territories or in Ukraine where the exact cause was not established.

The figures have not been independently verified, but they add to a wider picture of the war's human cost. The supplied material says the joint database maintained by BBC News Russian Service and Mediazona contained around 286,000 named dead Russian servicemen as of 8 November, though that list is described as incomplete, especially for recent months. It also says a separate study by Meduza and Mediazona, based on inheritance registry data, estimated roughly 350,000 fallen Russian servicemen by the end of 2025.

The hackers' claims therefore sit within a range of previously published independent estimates, even if the accuracy of each number remains uncertain. The alleged breach matters because access to internal state statistics could help outside analysts assess the demographic impact of the war more precisely. Russia's official silence on combat losses has made independent verification difficult since the early months of the invasion.

The loss of annual causes-of-death data from Rosstat in 2024 further reduced the amount of public information available for demographic analysis. That has increased the importance of leaked or indirect datasets for researchers trying to measure the war's effect on Russian society. Rosstat is the main federal body responsible for official statistics in Russia, including demographic and economic data.

In this case, the hackers say the material they obtained included records that could be used to reconstruct mortality patterns linked to the war. The claim also highlights the role of cyber groups in the information contest surrounding the conflict in Ukraine, where casualty figures have become politically sensitive and difficult to confirm. The supplied material does not say whether Rosstat has confirmed the breach or whether the data has been independently authenticated.

What remains unclear is the extent to which the stolen material is genuine, how it was obtained, and whether it has been fully reviewed by independent experts. It is also not clear whether the alleged breach will lead to any official response from Russian authorities or changes in how statistical data is handled. For now, the main significance lies in the possibility that internal records may offer a new window into wartime mortality.

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