Residents of Volgodonsk in Russia’s Rostov region have publicly protested the city’s neglect of military burial sites, posting an angry video condemning local authorities for abandoning the graves of soldiers killed in Ukraine. Veterans of the so‑called special military operation accused the administration of failing to maintain an ever‑growing memorial alley. “They brought the young men home in their thousands. Our alley had to be extended in 2024. Yet the city officials did not even bother to tend to it with a rake,” they said, their voices tinged with grief. “Our sons who go to war do not return alive,” one veteran lamented, describing bodies lying knee‑deep in overgrown grass.
Independent researchers estimate that over the past 16 months Russia has seized only 4 700 sq km of Ukrainian territory—less than one per cent of the country—while suffering some 400 000 killed or wounded. These figures, though imprecise, hint at losses unprecedented for any industrialised nation since the Second World War. Moscow’s strict secrecy forces experts to piece together casualty totals from obituaries, cemetery records and disability payments. Ukraine’s own intelligence and NATO agencies produce higher range estimates by combining deaths with all injuries, though many wounded Russian troops soon forcibly return to the front.
