After two years of secrecy, Volodymyr Zelensky has finally revealed the number of fallen Ukrainian soldiers. ‘31,000 Ukrainian military personnel have been killed in this war. Not 300,000 or 150,000, as Putin and his deceitful circle falsely claim. But each of those losses is an enormous loss for us’, he said. The President chose not to disclose the number of wounded troops: this, he said, was to prevent Russia from knowing how many people had ‘left the battlefield’.

The news was shocking but not surprising. Sergei Shoigu, the Russian Defense Minister, recently claimed that the Ukrainian army had suffered over 160,000 casualties during counter-offensive last year. Such Russian updates on the matter are widely dismissed in Ukraine as ludicrous. However, when the Economist, citing US officials, reported last November that a staggering 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers had perished, the news appeared horribly plausible.

The thousands of graves across the country felt like a haunting suggestion that the dead may soon outnumber the living

When Russian tanks were rolling on Kyiv, keeping quiet about Ukrainian losses was crucial to prevent despair and uphold morale. Now, clarity has become imperative. Thousands of graves adorned with blue-and-yellow flags across the country felt like a haunting suggestion that the dead may soon outnumber the living. The public demand to disclose the number of fallen soldiers had been fuelled even more by both Russian propaganda and Western analyses. When the consensus estimate was so much higher than the actual figure, Zelensky felt he had to act.

The 31,000 death toll he has provided leaves gaps in understanding the state of the Ukrainian army and how many recruits it needs. Thousands of wounded soldiers won’t return to the frontline, and many are missing, with fragments of bodies often unidentifiable or inaccessible due to ongoing hostilities.

QOSHE - Zelensky: ‘31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed so far’ - Svitlana Morenets
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Zelensky: ‘31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed so far’

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25.02.2024

After two years of secrecy, Volodymyr Zelensky has finally revealed the number of fallen Ukrainian soldiers. ‘31,000 Ukrainian military personnel have been killed in this war. Not 300,000 or 150,000, as Putin and his deceitful circle falsely claim. But each of those losses is an enormous loss for us’, he said. The President chose not to disclose the number of wounded troops: this, he said, was to prevent Russia from knowing how many people had ‘left the........

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