For the first time, Ukraine's President reveals the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the war against Russia.
The war against Russia has claimed the lives of 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers.
This was disclosed by Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, during a press conference in Kyiv on Sunday afternoon, as reported by the news agency AFP.
Thus, for the first time, the president has quantified the number of Ukrainian soldiers who have lost their lives during the two-year-long war.
"31,000 soldiers have died in the war. Not 300,000 or 150,000 or whatever Putin and his lying inner circle claim."
"But each of these losses is a great loss for us," Zelensky said, according to AFP.
As of now, the casualty figure has not been verified by independent sources.
Until now, various estimates have circulated regarding the number of casualties in the war, affecting both the Ukrainian and Russian sides.
Regarding Ukraine's casualties, a report by a civilian Ukrainian investigative group in November 2023 estimated that more than 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the war.
However, months before this, U.S. officials estimated to the New York Times that nearly 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers had lost their lives.
Journalists from the Russian opposition media MediaZona and the BBC's Russian division concluded in January, based on open sources, that at least 42,284 Russian soldiers have been killed in the war.
Russia has not released official information on how many of its soldiers have been killed in Ukraine.
Throughout the war, it has been in the interest of both Russia and Ukraine to obscure casualty figures, as such information can reveal the military strengths or vulnerabilities of the two countries.
The announcement of Ukraine's casualty figures comes the day after the country marked the second anniversary of Russia's invasion.
According to United Nations counts, the war has resulted in the death of at least 10,000 civilians in Ukraine. It is also estimated that nearly 20,000 civilians have been injured.
