Around 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed by Russia’s war, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on “Ukraine. Year 2024” forum in Kyiv on Feb. 25.

“Each person is a very big loss for us. 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers died in this war,” the president said. “It is very painful for us.”

The announcement is the first time the president has publicly stated a figure on the death toll of Ukrainian soldiers since the start of the full-scale invasion. The Ukrainian government has kept a tight lid on casualty numbers during the war.

Zelensky did not clarify if the number covers the entire 10 years of Russian aggression against Ukraine or is just for the last two years of the full scale invasion.

He also said that 180,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the war, and that along with the wounded, Russia has suffered 500,000 casualties.

“I won’t say how many wounded (Ukrainians) there are, because Russia will know how many people have left the battlefield.”

Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in Russia’s war in occupied territories, Zelensky said, but declined to give an exact amount, adding that the public would find out once the territories were liberated.

At least 10,582 civilians have been killed and nearly 20,000 have been injured since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said on Feb. 24.

Read also: How has Crimea changed after 10 years of Russian occupation?

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