{"id":17943,"date":"2022-03-25T08:03:52","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T08:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/?p=17943"},"modified":"2022-03-25T09:31:32","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T09:31:32","slug":"medal-count-osint-analysis-of-real-russian-losses-for-the-first-week-of-hostilities-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/medal-count-osint-analysis-of-real-russian-losses-for-the-first-week-of-hostilities-in-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Medal count: OSINT analysis of real Russian losses for the first week of hostilities in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the beginning of the active phase of hostilities against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, reports about funerals of Russian military men became a mainstay of the Russian regional and federal media. In the early days, there was complete silence in the Russian media space, and this is easily explained. In order to be buried, the first Russians killed in action had to be brought to Russia, properly documented and then delivered to the burial place \u2013 this normally takes several days. It is also known that the Russian Federation either does not want, or does not have time to take all its bodies. Logistical problems for transporting of filled body bags are the same in the Russian army as with the botched logistics of the advancing invasion forces. Therefore, in the Russian press, news reports about the dead Russians have been appearing with a lag of a week or even 2-3 weeks. Therefore the mass media are becoming aware of the losses of the first days of the full-scale war only now. In this publication, InformNapalm volunteer intelligence community demonstrates an example of OSINT investigation aiming to verify the casualty data of the Russian Armed Forces. We turn to the Russian “medal count” for helpful information about the body count. Read the details in our investigation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Russian losses in the first week<\/h2>\n

In the very first days, Ukraine immediately reported thousands of Russians killed in action. The Russians kept silent about the losses until March 2 \u2013 on that day, the Russian Ministry of Defense for the first time, and so far the last time, voiced an official report on the losses: 498 killed, 1597 wounded. Here we need to make a remark. Konashenkov is a spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense \u2013 he talks about the losses of the Russian Army and units reporting to the Ministry of Defense. But the Russian Guard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is also involved in the war against Ukraine. There are also Alpha and Vympel special operations forces as well as Russian border guards that belong to the FSB of the Russian Federation. The losses for these agencies have not yet been told at all.<\/p>\n

So let’s go back to March 2nd. Back then Ukraine announced Russian losses at 5840 killed military men. Effectively, these were the losses of the Russians in the first week of the war.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, we have begun to analyze reports in the Russian regional press and social media. We’ve looked through hundreds of news stories about funerals, hundreds of hospital videos, and thousands of social media posts. What did we see?<\/p>\n

Vanya, would you have a medal or an order?<\/h2>\n

We could trace clear decoration patterns for the Russian military men involved in the war with Ukraine. All those killed receive the Order of Courage posthumously. Sometimes gravely wounded senior officers and individual military officers with spectacular wins, also receive this order \u2013 but these are isolated cases. Basically, the Order of Courage is now issued posthumously<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Individual senior officers are awarded the star of the Hero of Russia for severe wounds or posthumously. So Denis Shishov, the commander of the 11th Air Assault Brigade, wounded during the assault on Kakhovka, became a “hero”. His “feat” took place on February 25, and the news about the award appeared only two weeks later. Let’s quote<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“a paratrooper from Buryatia with wound to the head repulsed seven enemy attacks during a special operation to protect the Donbas”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Indeed, only a person gravely wounded to the head would defend the Donbas near Kakhovka.<\/p>\n

The commander of the 331st Kostroma Regiment of the Airborne Forces, Colonel Sergei Sukharev, who was killed in Ukraine, received the Star of the Hero posthumously<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But junior officers and soldiers receive simpler awards. Wounded soldiers receive a Medal for Courage (a copy of the Soviet Medal for Courage) – this can be seen on almost all videos from hospitals.<\/p>\n

Here is Shoigu in the hospital handing out awards:
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