Zelensky reveals number of Ukrainian soldiers killed and wounded

On December 8th, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that 43,000 troops have been killed and 370,000 wounded in action defending Ukraine against Russia since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of the country in February 2022. 

“Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Ukraine has lost 43,000 soldiers who died on the battlefield. 370,000 cases of providing assistance to the wounded, Zelensky noted in a Telegram announcement according to a translation by Kyiv Post. 

“This is taking into account that in our army approximately 50% of the wounded return to service, and all injuries are recorded, including minor and repeated ones,” the Ukrainian President added before claiming Russian losses have exceeded 750,000. 

On December 8th, Ukrainian estimates of Russian military personnel losses in the war hit 753,370. According to Zelensky Russia has suffered 198,000 troops killed in action and another 550,000 wounded. 

“Since September of this year, Russia has been losing people on the battlefield in a ratio of 5 and even 6 to 1 for us,” Zelensky added. His remarks came one week after The Economist put forth its estimates of Ukrainian losses based on open-source intel. 

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has resulted in a tremendous level of death and destruction not seen in Europe since the Second World War. Hundreds of thousands of troops have died but the focus has largely remained on Russian losses. 

Russia doesn’t provide any statistics regarding its casualties, nor had the Ukrainians before Zelensky's recent revelation, but the Ukrainian General Staff does provide daily reports on Russia’s daily losses. 

As of November 29th, the same day that The Economist published its estimate of Ukraine's total losses in the war, the Ukrainian General Staff reported that the total Russian losses in the war were 738,660. 

The preceding 24 hours had even seen Russia break its all-time high daily loss record after Ukraine recorded a single-day loss of 2030 troops.   

“Russia's daily losses in Ukraine surpassed 2,000 for the first time,” explained The Kyiv Independent. However, it is important to point out that the Ukrainian General Staff does not distinguish between those killed in action and those wounded. 

In November 2024, the Wall Street Journal reported total Russian deaths in the conflict had reached upwards of 200,000 soldiers while another 400,000 had been wounded in the fighting according to estimates from Western intelligence. 

How many Ukrainian soldiers were killed or wounded in the conflict had not been a subject of much debate in the Western media, but there had been some reports about the number of Ukrainians killed on the battlefield, some of which had come from Ukraine. 

In February 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that about 31,000 soldiers had been killed in the conflict in an effort to correct the record and counter the claims being made by Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials. 

"31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in this war. Not 300,000 or 150,000, or whatever Putin and his lying circle are saying,” Zelensky said according to BBC News. However, U.S. estimates around that time put the number higher. 

In August 2023, the New York Times reported that U.S. officials claimed the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in action at that time was 70,000 killed in action and between 100,000 to 120,000 wounded. 

The most recent estimate of Ukrainian losses from The Economist, based on its assessment of Ukraine's situation as of November 2024, estimated that the country had likely suffered between 60,000 and 100,000 soldiers killed in action, a number that turned out to be far lower then what Zelensky revealed on December 28th. 

“The data on Ukraine’s losses are harder to come by, in part because its allies are reluctant to provide estimates,” The Economist noted, adding that it used leaked battle data as well as official and unofficial intelligence reports to make its estimate. 

The Economist also reported another 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers may have been wounded in the war, though the news outlet admitted the data that it used did have its flaws, including the fact some of it could not be independently verified. Despite the possible issues with the data, The Economists project was only slightly above the figure put forth by Zelensky. 

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