“Almost 10 thousand Russian dead in Ukraine”. Hackers mockery at Komsomolskaya Pravda to publish the death toll

A hacker company leaks the dramatic situation on the ground in Ukraine to Russia. On the Komsomolskaya Pravda, a pro-Kremlin newspaper, a toll of Russian casualties was published: 9,861 dead and 16,153 wounded. The figure was attributed to the Ministry of Defense and was picked up by other media, at home and abroad. But then it was deleted from the Truthwhich later issued a note talking about “cyber sabotage”.

Two weeks ago there was a sophisticated cyber raid on the website of the Tass, the historic official agency, which had inserted at the end of a statement from the armed forces of Moscow a list of the damages suffered in the “special military operation”, the term by which the Russians are obliged to call the invasion of Ukraine. In that case, however, the numbers from a Kiev government communiqué were used, making it easy to pinpoint the origin of the hoax. Now, however, the figures have a greater likelihood.

The Kremlin has not released information on the victims since last March 2, when it recognized 498 dead soldiers. An evaluation very far from the reality documented by the images coming from the front. Last week, based on Pentagon estimates, the New York Times he had spoken of 7,000 soldiers killed and at least 14,000 wounded: a calculation believed to be reliable by many Western experts and certainly increased in the last days of fighting.

For comparison, the Russian military killed only 98 in the 2008 campaign against Georgia. And in the ten years of invasion of Afghanistan, the entire Soviet Union has cried 14,000 men. In the second Chechen conflict, the long war opened by President Yeltsin and ended by Putin, the fallen were about 5 thousand.

How heavy the sacrifice of Russian troops is is testified by the funerals that are celebrated every day in all corners of the country. The BBC compiled a list with 557 confirmed names, including a general and seven colonels. So far, the funeral has almost exclusively involved professional soldiers: there have been only two cases of conscript boys. The victims are mainly men of the chosen units – paratroopers, marines, armored divisions of the Guard – who were entrusted with the first wave of the attack. Many of them are officers, even of high rank. It is surprising, however, that the farewell ceremonies almost exclusively concern personnel killed in the first week of fighting.

Even the wounded are treated almost in secret. The Russians broadcast very few videos, in which medals were awarded or enthusiastic interviews were conducted. The Belarusian opposition filmed ambulance convoys that at night reach the field hospitals set up in the allied country of Moscow or the railway stations, from where they then leave for the homeland. Operations conducted in the utmost secrecy, to prevent the Russian people from knowing the blood sacrifice paid for the power designs of the last Tsar.