Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently shared insights into the significant impact of the ongoing war with Russia on his country. On Sunday, Feb. 25, Zelenskyy confirmed that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives since the onset of Russia’s invasion in 2022, describing it as a “big loss for us.”
He refrained from disclosing the number of injured or missing soldiers to avoid providing critical information to Russia.
This figure is considerably lower than estimates provided by American officials last summer, which suggested nearly 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed. Zelenskyy explained his decision to reveal the death toll was aimed at countering Russia’s claims of much higher Ukrainian casualties.
The exact number of civilian casualties remains unknown, Zelenskyy added.
While Russia seldom releases details about its military losses, a U.S. intelligence report in December estimated that around 315,000 Russian troops had been killed or wounded in Ukraine.
