Zelenskiy: Ukraine has lost 31,000 soldiers and 2024 will be 'decisive'
The Guardian|February 26, 2024
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has for the first time given a figure for the number of Ukrainian battlefield casualties in the war with Russia, acknowledging that 31,000 soldiers have been killed and saying 2024 will be "decisive" for the outcome of the conflict.
Luke Harding
Zelenskiy: Ukraine has lost 31,000 soldiers and 2024 will be 'decisive'

Speaking a day after the second anniversary of Vladimir Putin's invasion, the Ukrainian president said he believed his country would win despite recent military setbacks. He conceded "western weapons" were in short supply and were crucial at a time when his troops were spectacularly outgunned. They were running low on ammunition and at one point late last year were firing one shell for every 12 unleashed by the Russians, he said. The ratio was now one to seven. "They have a great superiority," he admitted.

He refused to say how many Ukrainian service personnel had been wounded, saying these details might help Moscow. But, speaking at a press conference in central Kyiv, Zelenskiy said western estimates of Ukrainian dead were too high. US officials have suggested 70,000 dead and 120,000 injured. "It's not 300,000 or 150,000. Every casualty means a lot to us," Ukraine's president said.

He put the number of total Russian dead at 180,000 and said Russian casualties were half a million including the injured. He described Putin and Russia as a "ring of Inhumans". The Kremlin had murdered the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, he added.

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