The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, noted, on the anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion, that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives during the conflict. This is the first time that the president has given a figure for his estimate of his side's casualties. This is a figure notably lower than those indicated by Vladimir Putin, who estimated the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed at 300,000 .
In his speech during the forum Ukraine Year 2024, held in Kiev on the day commemorating the second anniversary of the war, Zelensky noted: "31,000 Ukrainian military personnel have been killed in this war. Not 300,000, not 150,000, not whatever Putin and his deceitful circle have been lying about. But nevertheless, each of these losses is a great sacrifice for us."
"Ukraine is stronger now than two years ago"
The president refused to provide data on the number of soldiers wounded or missing in combat during these two years, and sent an optimistic message about the possibilities of winning the war, as long as the West does not lower its arms in helping them. We do not know how many of our civilians have been killed. We do not know. After signing a security agreement for 3 billion Canadian dollars (about 2.22 billion dollars) with the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, Zelensky assured:
Ukraine is definitely stronger now than it was two years ago. Today we signed another security agreement, which strengthens the position of our people, particularly our soldiers. This is a strong and timely decision that will significantly strengthen our resilience.
Ukraine is definitely stronger now than it was two years ago. Today, we signed another security agreement, which strengthens the position of our people, particularly our soldiers. This is a strong and timely decision that will significantly strengthen our resilience.
Prime… pic.twitter.com/pkIAk9Jj2Z
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 24, 2024
The Ukrainian president assured that he cannot give an exact number of civilians who have lost their lives as a result of the conflict, although he noted that they number in the "tens of thousands. We don't know how many of our civilians were killed. We don't know." He also insisted that many thousands more will die as the conflict continues.
