Some 31,000 Ukrainian troopers have been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion started two years in the past, President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned on Sunday, acknowledging for the primary time in the warfare a concrete determine for Ukraine’s toll.
“This is a big loss for us,” Mr. Zelensky mentioned at a information convention in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. But he declined to reveal the quantity of wounded or lacking, saying that Russia might use the knowledge to gauge the quantity of Ukraine’s lively forces.
Mr. Zelensky’s tally couldn’t be independently verified. It differs sharply from estimates by U.S. officers, who, this previous summer time, put the losses a lot greater, saying that near 70,000 Ukrainians had been killed and 100,000 to 120,000 had been wounded. Russia’s army casualties, the officers mentioned, had been about twice as excessive.
Mr. Zelensky’s uncommon acknowledgment got here as his nation’s armed forces at the moment are on the again foot alongside most of the 600-mile entrance line, with Russian troops urgent assaults in the east and south. Ukraine’s army leaders have lengthy mentioned that they want extra troops to push again in opposition to Russia’s relentless assaults; a mobilization invoice that might pave the way in which for a large-scale draft of as much as 500,000 troops is making its manner by means of Ukraine’s Parliament.
