Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has informed the international community that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in action in the two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion against his country.
The Ukrainian leader spoke at the “Ukraine Year 2024” forum in Kyiv, stressing that “each of these losses is a great sacrifice” for Ukraine.
He added that “tens of thousands of civilians” had been killed in occupied areas of Ukraine, but said that no exact figures would be available until the war was over.
It’s the first time that Kyiv has confirmed the number of its losses since the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
On the Russian side, there have been few official casualty figures.
However, Independent Russian news outlet Mediazona said on Saturday that about 75,000 Russian men died in 2022 and 2023 fighting in the war.
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There are unconfirmed reports by a United States intelligence report declassified in mid-December 2023, which estimated that 315,000 Russian troops had been killed or wounded in Ukraine.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the government of the United States had last concluded plans announce fresh sanctions on Russia before the end of the week over the death in prison of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as a string of European governments summoned Russian diplomats.
The principal political rival of Russian President Vladimir Putin passed away in his prison colony on Friday, according to Russian officials. The 47-year-old was slain, according to his team.
The US is set to announce a “major sanctions package to hold Russia accountable” and respond to the “vicious and brutal war that has now raged on for two years”, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the US and its allies imposed a slew of sanctions on Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.