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Friday 2 December 2022 - 10:48
13,000 Ukrainian Soldiers Killed in War with Russia: Zelensky Aide
Story Code : 1028068
“We have official figures from the general staff, we have official figures from the top command, and they amount to [between] 10,000 and 12,500 to 13,000 killed,” Podolyak announced.
“We are open in talking about the number of dead,” he added, saying more soldiers had been wounded than had died.
The number of military casualties has not been confirmed by the country's armed forces and Podolyak said Zelensky would make the official data public “when the right moment comes.”
In June, as Russian forces were making rapid territorial advances and seizing control of the easternmost region of Lugansk, Zelensky claimed that Ukraine was losing between 60 and 100 soldiers a day, putting the toll at the time at 500.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu also said in September that 5,937 Russian soldiers had been killed in the protracted military conflict.
Russia launched the military operation in Ukraine in late February, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements and Moscow’s recognition of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said one of the goals of what he called a “special military operation” was to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.
Since the operation was launched, Western allies of Kiev have supplied sophisticated weaponry to Ukraine, a move that Russia has repeatedly warned would only prolong the simmering war.
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