A record number of relatives of missing Russian soldiers turned to Ukraine in May
In May 2025, the project of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine "I Want to Find" received a record number of applications from families of missing Russian occupiers – over 12,000. The number of applications is constantly growing and has already exceeded 100,000. This was reported by the Coordination Headquarters.
In May, Ukraine received 12,320 applications to search for missing Russian military personnel, and since the launch of the "I Want to Find" project in January 2024, the total number of applications has been 100,324.
"This figure is significantly lower than the real number of missing occupiers. Since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the Russian authorities have completely ignored the losses of personnel," the Coordination Headquarters said.
Analysis of the appeals to the project showed a rapid increase in the number of missing persons in most units of the Russian armed forces. The leader in the number of wanted persons is the 15th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade (military unit 90600) – 2,277 missing persons.
"Of the 20 leading units in terms of the number of missing, 17 are motorized rifle units, which the command of the aggressor army most often throws into "meat" assaults," the Coordination Headquarters reported.
Among the areas of hostilities where the largest number of missing occupants has been recorded, the Pokrovsky district of Donetsk region takes first place – 16,510 applications. Since the beginning of the year alone, the number of missing persons here has increased by 68%. In second place is the Bakhmut district, where 8,801 applications were received.
26% of all applications for the "I Want to Find" project concern military personnel under the age of 30. The youngest of those wanted is only 18, and the oldest is 67.
Since the beginning of the work of "I Want to Find" in January 2024, 2,415 Russian military personnel have been confirmed to be in Ukrainian captivity, of which 1,126 have already been exchanged for Ukrainian defenders.
- According to "Khortytsia", the Russian Federation is losing almost 150 soldiers per square kilometer of territory in the east.
- As of June 12, 2025, three years and almost five months after the start of the full-scale war, Russian casualties had reached 1 million.
