KYIV, (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion two years ago, giving the first official figure for more than a year.
Zelenskiy told a news conference in Kyiv that he could not disclose the number of wounded because it would help Russian military planning.
“31,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed in this war. Not 300,000, not 150,000 … (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is lying there … But nevertheless, this is a big loss for us.”
Ukraine has not put a number to its military losses since the end of 2022, when presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the invasion on Feb. 24.
Battlefield casualties are a highly sensitive subject in a country trying to reform how it mobilises civilians into the army to regenerate its forces after last year’s counteroffensive proved unable to break through Russian lines.
A New York Times report in August cited U.S. officials as putting the Ukrainian death toll at close to 70,000. The same report said as many as 120,000 Russian troops had died during the war.
Zelenskiy told reporters that 180,000 Russians had been killed in the fighting.
Russia does not disclose military losses, which it regards as secret. Both sides regularly describe the other’s military losses as vast.
The Ukrainian leader also said that tens of thousands of civilians had been killed in the occupied areas of the country during the war. Kyiv says it cannot accurately assess the scale of such losses because it does not have access.
Following are excerpts of his comments from the press conference:
BATTLEFIELD
“Russia will prepare counter-offensive operations in early summer, or at the end of May if they can. They will prepare. We will prepare for their assault. Their assault that began on Oct. 8, has not brought any results, I believe. We, for our part, will prepare our plan and follow it.”
“There is a plan (for new counteroffensive), the plan is clear, I can’t tell you the details … This plan is related to the change of management, there are corresponding changes.”
“We need to prepare reserves. They haven’t been prepared properly, and that’s also a fact.”
UNITY
“Now is the most difficult moment for our unity, and if we all fall apart, from the outside and God forbid inside, then this will be the weakest moment. It hasn’t happened yet”
“The third year is a turning point. A year of elections, defocusing, everything at once, challenges from outside, from within … I believe the format of how the war ends will depend on this year.”
AID FROM THE US
“There is hope regarding Congress, and I’m sure it will be positive … They know we need support within a month.”
“When we talk about American aid, we must understand that this isn’t a question of financial reserves, it’s about weapons … We’ll just be weakened on the battlefield … And here I don’t have a reserve, we have the weapons that we have.”
PEACE SUMMIT
“I hope it’ll take place this spring. We mustn’t lose this diplomatic initiative.”
“We will offer a platform on which he (Putin) can agree that he lost this war and that it was a mistake. A big mistake.”
BORDER BLOCKADE WITH POLAND
“It’s unfair to use Ukraine to put pressure on European institutions.”
“… we will protect our businesses.”
LEGITIMACY AS PRESIDENT
“As for [questions about my] legitimacy, this isn’t the opinion of Western partners or anyone inside Ukraine. This is the narrative and program of the Russian Federation.”
“All the G7 intelligence agencies have the relevant documents. It’s basically clear that this is a Russian programme. Everyone is against it [questioning my legitimacy], absolutely everyone.”
