Researchers conducted dozens of interviews with soldiers and their relatives, studied more than 50 videos of prisoner interrogations, and reviewed open sources. According to their data, a total of 344 conscripts were stationed in the border zone in 2024. At the time of death, most were 20 years old; the youngest was 18.
The highest number of dead and missing came from the Komi Republic — 42 soldiers. More than ten others were drafted from Dagestan, Bashkortostan, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Altai Krai, Tyumen Oblast, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Krasnoyarsk Krai.
Soldiers began being sent to the border in late March 2024. At many positions, conscripts made up 50 to 85 percent of personnel. Some soldiers volunteered for border duty, while others were discouraged by relatives. Command did not always inform soldiers they would serve directly on the border — at a military unit in Klintsy, Bryansk Oblast, they were assured they would be stationed behind border guards and contract soldiers.
The journalists believe that those missing in action will eventually be declared dead. Such cases were officially recorded throughout 2025, the last one in May 2026.
The Ukrainian project "I Want to Live" reported that about 500 conscripts went through prisoner exchanges. By the second anniversary of the Kursk events, none of them remained in captivity. However, some of those exchanged were sent back to the border — to Bryansk Oblast, where they spent more than a month.