Estimated losses for each Soviet Republic

On May 8, Ukraine joins Europe in marking the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation to honor the victims in World War II. While Russia claims the victory for itself and has officially denied the Ukrainian role in the fight against the Nazis, Ukraine paid the biggest price for victory in the Second World War among the former USSR republics. As a vital contributor to the Red Army and a key provider of industrial resources in the USSR, Ukraine incurred the largest number of casualties during WWII.

The real number of victims during WWII is still not fully known. Some relevant data is still held in Russian archives and is not available for non-Russian researchers.

However, of the 41.7 million people living in the Ukrainian Soviet Republic before the war, only 27.4 million were alive in Ukraine in 1945, according to the Ukrainian MFA.

Official data says that at least 8 million Ukrainians lost their lives including 5.5 - 6 million civilians, and more than 2.5 million natives of Ukraine were killed at the front.

The data varies between 8 to 14 million killed, however, only 6 million have been identified.

Glory to Heroes!

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Also in 2004 Historian Vadim Erlikman pegged total war deaths at 10.7 million, exceeding the previous Krivosheev's estimate of 8.7 million by an extra two million. This extra two million would presumably include Soviet POWs that died in Nazi captivity, partisans, and militia.

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