Cargo 200 (code name)


Cargo 200 is a military code word used in the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet states referring to the transportation of military fatalities. Officially, the term Cargo 200 is military jargon to refer specifically to the corpses of soldiers contained in zinc-lined coffins for air transportation. Unofficially, Cargo 200 is used to refer to all bodies of the dead being transported away from the battlefield, and has also become a euphemism for irretrievable losses of military personnel in a conflict.
Colloquially the abbreviated term may be used in reporting, e.g, "We have one 200th and four 300ths", i.e., one killed and four wounded.

Modern usage

The term Cargo 200 has received new international attention since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014. Cargo 200 was referenced by the Ukrainian [Ministry of Internal Affairs] in the name of their 200rf.com website used to publicize Russian personnel killed and captured during the 2022 [Russian invasion of Ukraine]. Commander-in-Chief of the [Armed Forces of Ukraine] Oleksandr Syrskyi was nicknamed "General 200" in reference to the term Cargo 200 due to pursuing bloody Soviet-style military tactics which resulted in heavy Ukrainian casualties during the battle of Bakhmut.

Related military code words