Ukraine’s President says 31,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed in war with Russia. Source: The Presidential Office of Ukraine, Flickr.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says 31,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed since Russia launched a full-scale war on Ukraine, when it invaded two years ago.
Russian government describes the invasion as a “Special Military Operation”, rather than a war.
Speaking at the “Ukrainian. Year 2024” conference, President Zelenskyy said that he was providing an updated death toll in response to Russia’s inflated figures.
“31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in this war. Not 300,000 or 150,000, or whatever Putin and his lying circle are saying. But each of these losses is a great loss for us.”
The loss of civilian lives is unknown but President Zelensky said it could be “tens of thousands” who have been killed in the areas occupied by Russia.
“I don’t know how many of them died, how many were killed, how many were murdered, tortured, how many were deported.”
A US de-classified intelligence report estimates that 315,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or injured in the war in December 2023.
President Zelenskyy’s address comes following Defence Minister of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov, calling out Western allies who still did not deliver on their commitments to send military aids, which will cost lives.
“At the moment, commitment does not constitute delivery,” he said. “We look to the enemy: Their economy is almost $2 trillion, they use up to 15 percent official and nonofficial budget [funds] for the war, which constitutes over $100bn annually.
“So basically, whenever a commitment doesn’t come on time, we lose people, we lose territory.”
The EU said it plans to complete a shipment of a million artillery shells to Ukraine by March, but will not be able to deliver all of it until the end of 2024.
Umerov also highlighted that the delay in supplies could also put Ukraine at further disadvantage “in the mathematic of [the] war” against Russia.
Last week, it was announced that Russian troops captured the strategic city of Avdiivka—a significant win for Moscow.
President Zelenskyy blamed this on lack of weapon supplies, while Biden administration says the fall of the city could be directly contributed to a hold-up in Congress of a $60 billion US aid package.
Ukraine has “clear” new counteroffensive plans against Russian forces said President Zelenskyy on Sunday, but cannot disclose the details.
“This plan is related to the change of management; there are corresponding changes. Several plans will be prepared due to a leak of information,” President Zelenskyy said.
Meanwhile, there are also talks of Ukraine possibly inviting Russia to a future peace summit to discuss the end of the war.
“We will offer a platform on which he [Putin] can agree that he lost this war and that it was a mistake. A big mistake,” said President Zelenskyy.
“The third year [since Russian’s invasion] is a turning point. A year of elections, defocusing, everything at once, challenges from outside, from within … I believe the format of how the war ends will depend on this year.”
