Up to 13 000 Ukrainian troops have been killed in warfare in Ukraine since February, and this is one of the rare occasions that state officials told the numbers, writes the BBC.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that 10 000 to 13 000 soldiers lost their lives in the war, but the army has not confirmed Podolyak’s claim. In June, it was reported that 100 – 200 Ukrainian soldiers are being lost daily.
Podolyak told Ukrainian TV channel Channel 24 that «Kyiv is speaking openly about the number of people killed.»
He said: «We have official estimates from the army, and official estimates from the president, and these numbers are between 10 000 and 13 000 fallen troops.»
The adviser added that the number of civilians killed is also significant. According to the BBC, there were about 3 600 civilian deaths in mid–June, but this number is likely to be much higher now. According to Podolyak, about 100 000 soldiers have fallen on the Russian side, and another 100 000 to 150 000 are wounded, missing, or incapacitated.
In November, US General Mark Milley said there could be 100 000 soldiers on both sides wounded or killed in action.
Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, mentioned in a video address on Wednesday, the 30th of November, that 100 000 soldiers were killed. Representatives of the European Commission later explained that it was a mistake, the chairperson meant the total number of injured and killed. Von der Leyen also mentioned about 20 000 thousand civilians were killed. Although the European Commission has not retracted this information, a passage mentioning specific figures has been cut from later versions of the video.
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