Delays in Western military aid promised to Ukraine are costing lives, according to the defense minister. 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in two years, announces President Zelensky.
As Ukraine entered its third year of war against the Russian invader on Saturday, Rustan Umerov, the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, declared at a conference in Kyiv that half of the Western military support promised to his country did not arrive on time, which complicates the task of military planners and would ultimately cost the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.
To complete what his minister had just declared, the Ukrainian president himself lifted the veil on a hitherto well-kept defense secret. Volodymyr Zelensky said 31,000 Ukrainian troops had been there in the past two years. This is the first time an official has addressed the subject.
Here’s what he said: _”31,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in this war. It’s neither 300,000 nor 150,000, and not the lies of Putin and his deceptive circle. Nevertheless, each of these losses represents a great sacrifice for us.” _
The Ukrainian leader said he would not disclose the number of soldiers injured or missing. He also stated that “tens of thousands of civilians” had been killed in the occupied areas of Ukraine, but that no precise figures would be available until the end of the war.
“We don’t know how many of our civilians they killed. We don’t”he clarified.
In December 2023, a declassified American intelligence report cited the figure of 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers reportedly killed and between 100,000 and 120,000 injured, revealed the New York Times in August 2023, based on estimates from American officials. Russian losses would be higher: 120,000 Russian soldiers are said to have died between the start of the war and August 2023 and between 170,000 to 180,000 are believed to have been injured.
Russia, for its part, has provided few official figures on victims. The most recent Department of Defense data, released in January 2023, puts the death toll at just over 6,000, although reports from U.S. and British officials estimate the figure significantly higher.
Independent Russian media outlet Mediazona said on Saturday that around 75,000 Russian men died in 2022 and 2023 fighting in the war. A joint investigation published by Mediazona and Meduza, another independent Russian news site, indicates that the pace of Russian losses in Ukraine is not slowing and that Moscow loses around 120 men per day.