The Kremlin denies sending troops into the conflict in east Ukraine, but Russian relatives of those who have served and died across the border tell a different story

A growing body of information about Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine has started to reveal a damning picture of Moscow’s intervention in the separatist conflict there, despite Kremlin denials of involvement.

As fighting continued to flare in the east particularly around Donetsk airport, an online organisation has catalogued more than 260 people reportedly killed in eastern Ukraine. The Open Russia organisation , started by the Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has also published a map showing where the dead are from.



The official denial of Russian military participation in Ukraine has pressured the relatives of those who served and died there to keep silent, and could deprive many of them of the benefits to which they are entitled. But some have started to speak out.



Yelena Tumanova, a hospital orderly from Russia’s Mari El republic, said her son Anton Tumanov told her by phone on 10 August that his army unit was being sent to Donetsk. On 20 August, a coffin came back to Mari El with a small window through which she could see his face. His legs had been torn off by an artillery strike, his comrades told her. He was 20 years old.

“When he chose this path, we didn’t know they were sending our soldiers to Ukraine,” Tumanova told the Guardian. “If I would have known, if he would have known … he would not have joined up again. Even if he would have, I wouldn’t have let him. But he said: ‘Don’t worry, [the Russian president Vladimir] Putin says they won’t send anyone there.’”



Tumanov’s death certificate from a Rostov morgue said only that he died at “the place of temporary deployment of military unit 27777 … of massive blood loss [from] multiple shrapnel wounds”, the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported.

Russian paratroopers captured by Ukrainian forces near a village in the Amvrosiivka district of Donetsk in August. Russia says the troops strayed into Ukraine by accident. Photograph: Vladimir Gontar/EPA

State-controlled television has occasionally reported on the deaths of Russian “volunteers” in Ukraine, but any discussion of servicemen being deployed there remains taboo. And despite a wealth of evidence that active-duty Russian soldiers have been in Ukraine – including 10 Russian paratroopers captured in Ukraine in August, Nato satellite photos showing tanks crossing the border, and a rash of secret funerals of soldiers across Russia – the Kremlin has denied that it has deployed troops to help the pro-Russia rebels.



Last week, Ukraine’s national security council said the number of Russian servicemen training local troops and fighting in the Donetsk region had increased to 8,500, along with deliveries of armour and munitions from Russia.

Amid the official denials, soldiers are being pressured to deploy to Ukraine unofficially. Those wounded in eastern Ukraine and the families of those killed have been told to keep silent about their service there, according to soldiers’ rights advocates. Some families say they have not received the various compensations they are entitled to after losing a breadwinner in military service.

You can’t hide this information, secretly bury soldiers, secretly send people abroad to fight

If a soldier dies in action, his family is entitled to compensation of 3m roubles (£30,000), an insurance payment of 2m roubles, and a monthly stipend. If he dies in action in a conflict that is later officially recognised as a Russian war, his family are entitled to additional benefits that can include a new apartment.

“You can’t hide this information, secretly bury soldiers, secretly send people abroad to fight,” said Sergei Krivenko, a member of the Russian human rights group Memorial, who has been helping relatives of those killed in eastern Ukraine, as well as soldiers who are trying to resist being sent there. “What status do families of the wounded and dead have, what compensation and medical aid? Help from the government depends on this status.”

The “volunteer” service Putin referred to is often anything but, according to several rights advocates. They say soldiers have told them that they were pressured to sign documents to go on a “business trip” to eastern Ukraine or “volunteer” in other ways. Tumanov told his mother that his commanders offered a 400,000-rouble bonus to sign up to fight in Ukraine, then simply ordered them forward when volunteers weren’t forthcoming. Some captured Russian paratroopers recounted that they had gone on a supposed training mission in armoured carriers and only later realised they were in Ukraine.

It is unclear how many Russian servicemen have been killed in eastern Ukraine, but soldiers’ rights advocates say the number is likely to be in the hundreds. Besides Open Russia’s 260-name working list, the independent television channel Dozhd has confirmed the deaths of 34 soldiers named in a list on its website.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ukrainian soldiers charge a Grad multiple rocket launcher, near Shchastya, Luhansk region, east Ukraine, in August. Russian-backed rebels use similar weaponry. Photograph: Aleksey Chernyshev/AFP/Getty Images

According to Lev Shlosberg, a regional deputy from the city of Pskov who published news of the first secret funerals for Russian soldiers in August, at least 2,000 men from the division based there were deployed to eastern Ukraine, and at least 100 were killed.

Soldiers are still being sent to Ukraine, although in smaller numbers than in August, according to rights monitors interviewed by the Guardian. The Russian soldiers’ rights group Forgotten Regiment claimed in December that 15,000 Russian soldiers are fighting there.



Krivenko is still receiving appeals from soldiers facing imminent deployment to eastern Ukraine. He said the army is firing those who refuse to go, meaning they may not receive full benefits.

“They’re refusing the command to go on a ‘business trip,’ but they’re not refusing to keep serving,” Krivenko said. “A few have appealed to us, but they say that at their bases, hundreds are refusing to go.”

Yelena Vasilyeva, a Russian anti-war campaigner who runs a Facebook group that collects information about Russian soldiers in Ukraine, claimed in November that some 300 soldiers at a base in Kamenka near St Petersburg refused orders for a deployment to eastern Ukraine, as did 200 at a base in Murmansk. She said relatives gathered outside the base in Kamenka every weekend to try to prevent soldiers from being sent.

This is a secret war, and it’s not clear who is fighting who

“Many soldiers are tearing up their contracts,” Shlosberg said. “Many were ready to fight in Chechnya because it was seen as a fight for Russian territory, plus it was an open war. This is a secret war, and it’s not clear who is fighting who. Soldiers think if they are going to serve the government, the government should openly respect them … The army is very restive right now.”

As far back as August, Russia’s presidential human rights council asked the investigative committee to check information about the deaths of nine Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine. Memorial sent details about the deaths of Tumanov and other soldiers in eastern Ukraine to the defence ministry in September, asking it to confirm or deny this information, but has yet to receive an answer.

During a meeting with the president, Krivenko even handed Putin a list of about 100 soldiers killed in eastern Ukraine, and in September the deputy defence minister told him he was willing to investigate the deaths Krivenko has reported. But Krivenko still hasn’t seen officials take action.

A hurdle in winning recognition for the deaths of Russian soldiers has been the reluctance of veterans and families to speak out. Many relatives fear persecution, said Russian anti-war activist Yekaterina Maldon.

A freshly dug grave is seen at the Vybuty cemetery in the Pskov region in August, reportedly belonging to a Russian soldier killed in Ukraine. Photograph: Reuters

According to Shlosberg, families have been receiving benefits for dead and injured relatives only on the condition that they keep quiet about what happened, creating an atmosphere of fear.

“The president says we are not officially fighting, he says that to the whole country, and so people are scared,” Shlosberg said.

Although the secret funerals for their fallen comrades “really pissed off” other Pskov soldiers who think their service should be recognised, he said, they are also unwilling to speak out at risk of future repercussions. Depending on the political situation, they could theoretically be accused of serving as mercenaries or even war criminals and face charges, he said. By law, soldiers can be held responsible for fulfilling an illegal order.

We need to force the government to admit that these people took part in a conflict

Among the few families speaking out is that of Pavel Zhilin, who was reportedly killed in eastern Ukraine in August. After his charred remains were returned home, they asked a military prosecutor to open a criminal case to hold his commanders responsible for Zhilin’s death in Ukraine, said Valentina Melnikova of the group Soldiers’ Mothers. The prosecutor has failed to take action, but they are waiting for an official denial before taking their case to another court, she said.

Proving the circumstances of Russian soldiers’ deaths is extremely difficult since all the related documents that rights watchers have seen do not admit that they were killed in action in Ukraine.

Neither have there been any written orders to deploy soldiers to Ukraine, Melnikova said. “They don’t exist! No order, no problem,” she said. “We need to force the government to admit that these people took part in a conflict and didn’t just die in serviceman’s accident at a base in Rostov.”

Shlosberg says his main goal is to bring the conflict to a close by asking uncomfortable questions, since “these people will never admit anything without a serious court case”.

He said: “My task is to stop the war, and the investigator who may one day appear will have to establish the circumstances [of the soldiers’ deaths]. I have the right to ask how these people died, and where … I don’t believe a fair war crimes trial can happen in Russia … but with the help of these actions, it’s possible to stop war, I believe; extremely hard, but possible.”

Yelena Tumanova just hopes someone will be held responsible for ordering the illicit mission on which her son died.

“Of course I can’t return him, but I would like someone to face responsibility, especially in our case because his probationary period [for contract service] hadn’t ended yet,” she said. “I think they violated the rules.”