Zelensky says Ukraine has lost 43,000 soldiers on battlefield

KYIV – Ukraine says fatalities among its soldiers since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 have reached 43,000 – a rare estimate much lower than a figure offered by US President-elect Donald Trump.

The toll was revealed by President Volodymyr Zelensky in a statement on the social media platform X on Dec 8, hours after Trump claimed that Ukraine had “lost” 400,000 soldiers. It is unclear if Trump was referring to wounded troops as well as those killed.

Mr Zelensky said there had been 370,000 cases of “medical assistance for the wounded” on the battlefield, including light or repeat injuries. About half of the Ukrainian soldiers wounded in action later returned to service, he said.

In a Truth Social post on Dec 8, the morning after a meeting in Paris with Mr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump provided an estimate of casualties for both Ukrainian and Russian troops in the

almost three-year old war.

“Close to 600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead,” he said. It is not known how he obtained the figure, given Russia’s Defence Ministry does not publish casualty estimates. 

Trump called for an “immediate ceasefire” followed by negotiations, adding that Mr Zelensky “would like to make a deal” to end the war.

While Ukraine’s government does not deny it seeks peace, it has repeatedly stressed the necessity of obtaining meaningful guarantees from its allies, led by the US.

“When we talk about an effective peace with Russia, we should first talk about effective guarantees of peace,” Mr Zelensky said in his Dec 8 X post. 

The war “cannot simply end with a piece of paper and a few signatures”, he added. “A ceasefire without guarantees can be reignited at any moment.” 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also responded to Trump’s social media post, repeating Moscow’s message that it was open to talks but referring to “conditions” outlined in July by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

That included “taking account (of) the realities emerging on the ground”, Mr Peskov said, at a time Russian forces have been making steady advances through parts of eastern Ukraine. 

The updated fatality estimate from Mr Zelensky implies that about 12,000 service members have died since February, when Ukraine’s leader officially estimated the death toll at 31,000.

In an interview with Japan’s Kyodo News published on Dec 1, he denied reports that as many as 80,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed.

The Wall Street Journal reported the figure in September, citing sources it did not identify.
BLOOMBERG