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Practically 31,000 Ukrainian troopers have been killed since Russia started a full-scale invasion two years in the past, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated Sunday, acknowledging a concrete determine for Ukraine's toll within the warfare for the primary time.
“It is a big loss for us,” Mr Zelensky stated at a information convention within the Ukrainian capital Kiev. However he declined to reveal the variety of injured or lacking and stated Russia may use the knowledge to estimate the variety of energetic Ukrainian forces.
Mr. Zelensky’s numbers couldn’t be independently verified. That's a far cry from estimates by U.S. officers, who final summer time vastly overestimated losses, saying some 70,000 Ukrainians have been killed and 100,000 to 120,000 have been wounded. Officers stated Russia's navy losses have been about double that.
Mr Zelensky's uncommon admission got here as his nation's armed forces are actually on the again foot throughout many of the 600-mile entrance line, with Russian troops launching assaults within the east and south. Ukraine's navy leaders have lengthy stated they want extra troops to defend in opposition to Russia's continued assaults; A mobilization invoice that would pave the way in which for a mass draft of as much as 500,000 troops is making its method by way of Ukraine's parliament.