KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s president said at a press conference on Sunday that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion, the first official toll in several months.
The Ukrainian leader added that he could not communicate the number of wounded, arguing that this would help the Russian army.
“31,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in this war. Not 300,000, not 150,000 (…) Putin is lying. But nevertheless, it remains a huge loss for us,” he declared from Kyiv.
Ukraine has not communicated an official report on its human losses since the end of 2022 when presidential advisor Mykhaïlo Podoliak put forward the figure of 13,000 soldiers killed.
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A New York Times article, published in August and based on testimony from American officials, claimed that nearly 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the conflict.
During his press conference, Volodimir Zelensky put forward the figure of 180,000 deaths on the Russian side.
Russia does not publish data on the number of its soldiers killed.
The Ukrainian president also said that tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in occupied areas of the country since the start of the war.
Furthermore, Volodimir Zelensky estimated that Russian forces would carry out a new offensive at the end of May or this summer.
“We will prepare for their assault. Their assault which began on October 8 did not bear fruit, I think,” added Volodimir Zelensy.
The Ukrainian leader also said that Ukraine was working on a new counter-offensive, adding that he could not give further details.
“There is a plan (for a counter-offensive), the plan is clear, I can’t tell you the details.”
(Reporting by Olena Harmash, Dan Peleschuk, Yuliia Dysa; French version Zhifan Liu)
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