The Southasian death toll in the Russia-Ukraine war – Footnotes

On 5 March, we broke the story on new data from Ukraine which revealed the death toll of Southasians fighting for Russia in the Russia-Ukraine war. The figures showed that several Southasian countries have had many more of their citizens recruited into the Russian military and killed in action than has previously been officially recognised. Sri Lankans have the highest death toll by far, with at least 275 killed in action, while the single highest number of Southasians recruited came from Nepal, with at least 852 involved with Russian forces. 

How do we understand the significance of these figures, and how do we make sense of the phenomenon of at least 455 Southasians ending up dead on the frontlines of a war far from their homes? Last week, I sat down for a conversation with Saroj Pathirana, a freelance journalist and former reporter and editor for the BBC World Service’s Sinhala service, who reported the story for Himal and who has long been covering the story of Sri Lankans recruited into the Russia-Ukraine war. Here I’m bringing you an edited transcript of the conversation. 

You can listen to the conversation on YouTube here. To read Saroj’s story, click the link below.

Raisa: Until recently, it was difficult to get a full sense of the impact of the Russo-Ukrainian War in Southasia. But we now have new data from Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, which is an official body responsible for handling prisoners of war and tracking foreign fighters, that tell us the true Southasian death toll, with 1923 Southasians recruited, and at least 455 killed fighting for Russia in this war. We put out this data in a Himal Southasian report, in partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. And today, we have with us Saroj Pathirana, who reported on this story and who's going to take us through some of this data. Thank you for being here, Saroj.