The United Nations says 5,587 civilians were killed and 7,890 wounded during the Russian offensive on Ukraine, although the estimate is likely very conservative.
A general said the Russian invasion of Ukraine has already killed about 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers since it began about six months ago, in a rare acknowledgment of casualty figures during the war.
On Monday, General Valery Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said many Ukrainian children need care “because their parents went to the front and may be among the nearly 9,000 heroes killed”.
Monday’s announcement of the Ukrainian military’s death toll contradicts estimates provided by the Russian military, which last gave an update on March 25 when it said 1,351 Russian soldiers were killed during the first month of fighting.
US military officials estimated two weeks ago that Russia had lost between 70 and 80,000 soldiers, dead or wounded in action. It is impossible for Al Jazeera to independently confirm these numbers on the battlefield.
The United Nations says 5,587 civilians were killed and 7,890 wounded during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, although the estimate is likely very conservative.
On Monday, the United Nations Children’s Fund said at least 972 Ukrainian children had been killed or injured since the Russian invasion. These are numbers that have been verified by the United Nations, but “we believe the number is much higher,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
“I hate the Russians,” said Lyudmila Shishkina, 74, standing on the edge of her wallless fourth-floor apartment in Nikopol. She remains injured in the August 10 blast that killed her 81-year-old husband, Anatoly.
Pavlo Shishkin, his son, noted that “the Second World War did not rob my father, but the Russian War did.”
Ukraine celebrates its independence day on Wednesday, as well as six months since the invasion of Russian forces.
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