KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia invaded two years ago. This is the first time he has provided an official estimate of Ukraine's military losses during the conflict.
Zelensky gave the number at a press conference in Kiev to mark the second anniversary of the war.
“I don't know if I have the right to tell you the number of our losses. “Every single person is a tragedy,” he said, adding: “31,000.” [members] of the Ukrainian military were killed in this war.”
The last time Ukraine publicly announced the number of troops lost was in December 2022, when an adviser to Zelensky said up to 13,000 soldiers had been killed. In order not to dampen public morale, Kiev keeps the number of victims strictly up to date. But the numbers are believed to have risen significantly as Ukraine struggled to push back Russian forces, with several skirmishes leading to merciless standoffs.
Zelensky also said Russia suffered 500,000 casualties, including 180,000 fallen soldiers, but none of those figures could be independently verified.
Last year, a leaked Pentagon document that was considered top secret and dated February 21, 2023 contained an assessment of military casualties. U.S. officials estimated that between 15,500 and 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and another 106,500 to 110,500 were injured.
According to the same estimate, between 35,000 and 42,500 Russian soldiers were killed and 150,500 to 177,000 were injured. Those figures were consistent with recent estimates by Western officials that more than 200,000 Russian soldiers were likely killed or wounded.