«People of Baikal» have been keeping a list of those killed in Ukraine from Buryatia and the Irkutsk region since the beginning of the war, and it now contains more than 6,000 names, 3012 in the Irkutsk region and 2990 in Buryatia. The list is compiled based on open data — reports from administrations, military commissariats, and relatives, and the actual losses may be significantly higher.
According to the publication, 237 people from the Zaigrayevsky district of Buryatia died in the war, or 1.5% of the male population of the district aged 18 to 65.
This is slightly above the average for Buryatia, but far from the limit. In the Dzhidinsky, Eravninsky, Kizhinginsky, and Kyakhtinsky districts, the share of deceased men approaches 3%.
After studying the geography of losses, journalists did not find a single rural settlement in the Zaigrayevsky district without at least one casualty. As noted by the publication, a similar situation is likely observed in many other districts, but only the administration of this district indicates the place of birth of the deceased.
Meanwhile, Pribaikalia is among the regions where contract service has become quite popular. In the Irkutsk region, a one-time payment for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense is one million rubles, in Buryatia — 1.2 million rubles. However, as everywhere, the contract for military service during the war in Ukraine is effectively indefinite.
«People of Baikal» report that in the Irkutsk region, an 18-year-old contract soldier with a cyst in the brain and an injury is being sent back to the front. Kirill Vereshchagin is being discharged from the military hospital with a festering wound after being wounded and without undergoing a military medical commission, his mother Galina told the publication.
Kirill signed the contract only on the fourth attempt — due to the cyst, they did not want to take him to war. Two months into service, he was injured and sent to the hospital. The fragment could not be removed, and the wound festered. The contract soldier's mother is trying to bring her son home, but so far she has not succeeded.