The new figure indicates a significant increase in the number of dead Ukrainians since the beginning of the year.
The last time Zelensky reported on losses in Ukraine was in February, when he estimated 31,000 dead.
The Ukrainian president is believed to have been forced to make the admission after US President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that Ukraine had “laughably lost” 400,000 soldiers, while around 600,000 Russians were killed or wounded. Where these numbers come from, Trump did not specify.
The president-to-be, who has long made it clear he wants to end the war, said too many lives had been “needlessly wasted”.
Zelensky’s estimates of Russian casualties are similar to estimates by senior Western officials, which put Russia at about 800,000 casualties, both killed and wounded.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense says Russia suffered 45,680 casualties in November alone – more than in any month since its full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
According to the latest estimates of the British Ministry of Defense, an average of 1,523 Russian soldiers are killed and wounded every day.
On November 28, according to the report, Russia lost more than 2,000 people in one day, which happened for the first time.
Moscow disputes these figures. The Kremlin’s statement claims that Ukrainian losses “many times exceed” Russian losses.
Outside of Russia, the consensus is that Russian casualty figures much higher than the Ukrainian ones because of their “meat grinder” tactics..
The latest events of the war only increased the death toll.
Russian troops continue to gradually advance along the eastern front line, capturing and retaking about 2,350 square kilometers (907 square miles) of territory in eastern Ukraine and Russia’s western Kursk region since the start of the year.
Ukrainian forces retain control over a small part of Russian territory that was seized during a surprise attack on Russia in August.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that more than 38,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed or wounded near Kursk alone, a number that cannot be verified.
