Approximately 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the full-scale Russian invasion began, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a rare acknowledgment of the nation’s casualties.
In a social media post, the Ukrainian president stated that 370.000 others have been injured, although this figure includes soldiers who have been wounded multiple times.
He also claimed that 198.000 Russian soldiers had been killed, with 550.000 wounded.
While both Kyiv and Moscow have regularly released estimates of the other side’s losses, neither has been willing to disclose its own.
The new figure marks a significant increase in Ukrainian deaths since the start of the year.
The last time Zelenskyy provided an update on Ukraine’s casualties was in February when he estimated 31,000 had been killed.
It is believed that the Ukrainian president felt compelled to acknowledge this after the United States (U.S.) President-elect Donald Trump posted on social media that Ukraine had “ridiculously lost” 400.000 soldiers, while nearly 600.000 Russians had been killed or wounded. Trump did not specify the source of these figures.
The new U.S. president, who has long made it clear that he wishes to end the war, said that too many lives have been “needlessly wasted.”
Zelenskyy’s estimates of Russian losses are similar to those given by senior Western officials, who estimate that Russia has suffered around 800.000 casualties, both killed and injured.
