Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy revealed that at least 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives in the two years of Ukraine fighting Russia.
Zelenskiy added in his statement that the numbers are far less than what the Russian side claimed.
“31,000 Ukrainian military personnel have been killed in this war. Not 300,000, not 150,000, not whatever Putin and his deceitful circle have been lying about. But nevertheless, each of these losses is a great sacrifice for us”, AP quoted Zelensky in its report.
The Ukrainian President also said that he won’t reveal the number of personnel injured, or missing. It was added that tens of thousands of civilians had been killed in occupied areas of Ukraine, but said that no exact figures could be given until the war comes to an end.
“We don’t know how many of our civilians they killed. We don’t,” he said. Reportedly, this is the first time that Kyiv has put a number on the lives which were lost due to the war. The data provided by the Defense Ministry of Russia, published in January 2023, pointed to just over 6,000 deaths. However, reports put across by the U.S. and U.K. suggest that the number is significantly higher.
In December 2023, a declassified U.S. intelligence report revealed an estimated 315,000 Russian troops had either been killed or wounded in Ukraine, constituting approximately 87% of the pre-war force of around 360,000 troops.
As of Saturday, an independent Russian news outlet, Mediazona, reported that around 75,000 Russian men had lost their lives in the years 2022 and 2023 due to their involvement in the conflict.A collaborative investigation by Mediazona and another independent Russian news site, Meduza, suggests that Russia’s casualties in Ukraine continue to escalate, with Moscow reportedly facing a daily loss of about 120 men.
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