The world has had some estimates about the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the armed conflict with Russia since February 2022 until now. Ukraine kept this number a secret for a very long time. Recently, Ukrainian President Zelensky suddenly revealed this number.
For the first time, Ukraine released an official death toll
On February 25, Ukrainian President Zelensky announced there were about 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers died in battle since Russia launched a “special military campaign” against Ukraine two years ago. This is the first time Mr. Zelensky has acknowledged such a specific number of deaths on the Ukrainian side in the armed conflict between this country and Russia.
Speaking at a press conference in the capital Kiev, President Zelensly said that “this is a big loss for us.”
Mr. Zelensky refused to disclose the number of Ukrainian soldiers injured or missing, on the grounds that Russia could use that information to calculate Ukraine’s standing army.
However, it is currently impossible to independently verify the figures of Ukrainian soldiers killed in battle given by Mr. Zelensky. This number differs greatly from estimates by US officials. In the summer of 2023, the US predicted a much higher death toll for Ukrainian soldiers, up to nearly 70,000 people. At that time, the US believed that Ukraine had up to 100,000-120,000 wounded soldiers. There have been several more months of fighting since then, so Ukraine’s casualty figures could be even higher.
President Zelensky said he revealed this death toll to counter Russian information as well as other parties’ estimates that Ukraine’s casualties were much higher. According to Mr. Zelensky, the number of 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed by Russia given by Russia is incorrect.
President Zelensky’s first admission of the number of Ukrainian dead soldiers appeared at a time when the Ukrainian army had switched to defense, lacking manpower and ammunition along the front line with Russia. Russian troops are now stepping up their attacks in both the East and the South. About a week ago, Russia captured the strategic town Avdiivka. In recent days, Russian troops have continued to slowly advance West, trying to take advantage of the momentum they have just gained in this area.
Burial ceremony for a Ukrainian soldier killed in the conflict with Russia. Photo: Nytimes.
What is the real number of Ukrainian casualties?
Meanwhile, as early as the end of November 2022, European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen estimated the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the confrontation with Russia at 100,000 people. However, the EC later withdrew this estimate.
The EC incident revealing the number of deaths of Ukrainian soldiers made Kiev very unhappy at that time because they considered data like this to be a matter of national security, requiring strict censorship under the current regime. war,
At that time, Bohdan Senyk – spokesman for the Ukrainian armed forces, told Ukrainska Pravda newspaper that “We cannot confirm that number, we emphasize that the losses of the Ukrainian army are classified information, subject to Restrictions in the publishing process.
Then, reporters questioned this issue at an EC press conference on December 1, 2022. There, the EC’s Deputy Spokesperson said that some of the figures mentioned were intended to demonstrate the severity of the armed conflict with Russia.
Meanwhile, Russian state media took advantage of this information leak to highlight the losses of the Ukrainian army in the conflict.