Doubts about data

Selensky names concrete casualty figures for the first time

31,000 soldiers are said to have died on the Ukrainian side since the start of the war.(Bild: Ritzau Scanpix)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has for the first time given official casualty figures for the Ukrainian military: 31,000 soldiers have lost their lives since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression two years ago, as Selenskyj said at a press conference on Sunday. US estimates, on the other hand, assume much higher casualty figures.

 "I don't want to mention the number of wounded," Selensky explained on Sunday. Selensky rejected the casualty figures previously cited by the Americans or Russians. "That's all nonsense." Selensky put the Russian losses at 180,000 dead and 500,000 wounded. The president's claims could not initially be independently verified.

Ukraine has so far remained silent
This is the first time that one of the warring parties has officially stated its own casualty figures. The casualty figures cited by Zelenskyi on the Russian side are significantly higher than the daily updated count by the Ukrainian armed forces, which on Sunday put the total number of Russian casualties at 409,820 dead and wounded.

Selensky did not want to comment on the casualties among the Ukrainian population. These figures are not currently known, he said.

US figures significantly higher
Exact casualties among military personnel have so far been kept strictly secret by both sides. US estimates from summer 2023 assumed around 70,000 dead Ukrainian and 120,000 dead Russian soldiers. In mid-February, the US Department of Defense estimated the number of Russian soldiers killed or wounded at 315,000.