Up to 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia invaded in February, according to Kyiv presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, well below Western leaders’ estimates of Ukrainian casualties.
At times during the war, Ukraine stated that between 100 and 200 of his forces died on the battlefield every day, which makes Podolyak’s estimate seem conservative.
Speaking to the Ukrainian 24 Kanal, Podolyak cited official figures from the Ukrainian General Staff. He said that the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskywould return to the general public “when the right time comes”.
Ukraine has been tight-lipped about the number of its military dead and wounded, citing fears that revealing the total would give Russia a military advantage. The first official total was announced in August when Ukrainian army chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said 9,000 people had died. The total number of injured was not specified.
On Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen estimated that 100,000 Ukrainian servicemen were dead or injured.
Ukraine’s latest announcements of its daily deaths came in late spring and early summer, and were seen as part of a campaign by Kyiv for additional Western military support to prevent Russian advances.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed in September that Russia had lost 5,937 troops in Ukraine, a number well below Western estimates. The United States has estimated total Russian military casualties at 100,000 killed or wounded since February.
Ukraine claims to have killed many more, with a total of 90,090 Russian dead on Friday. Every day, the Kyiv General Staff updates the count and publishes it on its Facebook pagewith the number killed that day highlighted on one side.
Recent reports in Russian independent media indicate that the daily Russian casualty count may have increased since Moscow began using newly mobilized and ill-equipped soldiers on the front lines. Survivors of a battle in Ukraine’s Donbass in November claimed that until 300 were dead in one day.
Ukraine said on Friday that a number of its European embassies and consulates had received “bloody” packages containing animal eyes, after a series of letter bombs were sent to addresses in Spain, including the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid.
The packages, soaked in a liquid with a distinctive color and smell, were sent to the embassies of Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Italy, to the consulates general in Naples and Krakow, as well as the consulate in Brno, depending on foreign legislation. ministry.
“We are studying the meaning of this message,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said in a Facebook statement.
On the diplomatic front, US President Joe Biden said Thursday that he would only speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the conflict if he could see any indication that Russia was ready to withdraw from Ukraine.
“There is only one way to end this war – the rational way. Putin to pull out of Ukraine…it’s sick what he’s doing,” Biden said. “I am ready to speak with Mr. Putin if in fact there is an interest in him deciding that he is looking for a way to end the war.”
Biden said he didn’t expect Russia to be so “brutal” in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov struck a dovish tone when asked about Biden’s remarks on Friday, saying Putin remained open to negotiations but Russia would not withdraw from Ukraine. “The President of the Russian Federation has always been, is and remains open to negotiations in order to secure our interests,” Peskov said.
However, Russia has yet to show any indication that it is ready to back down militarily and cede the territory it has occupied in southern and eastern Ukraine since 2014.
In Ukraine, anti-Kremlin sentiment is pervasive due to the violence. The Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church, which is widely seen as an outpost of Kremlin influence by Ukrainians, is expected to be banned from operating in the near future.
In his Thursday night address, Zelenskiy said the National Security Council had asked the cabinet to draft a ban bill that would be voted on in parliament. He also said there would be a review of church control over Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Monasterythe sacred center of Eastern Orthodoxy.
Over the past week, Ukrainian security services have carried out a series of raids on Moscow-affiliated monasteries and churches, sparked by a video of worshipers singing pro-Russian songs. They said they found pro-Russian literature, Russian passports and cash, and identified suspected Russian agents.
“We must create conditions so that no actor dependent on the aggressor state can manipulate Ukrainians and weaken Ukraine from within,” Zelenskiy said.
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