KYIV, Ukraine (AP) December, 2— A top adviser to Ukraine’s president has cited military chiefs as saying 10,000 to 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the country’s nine-month struggle against Russia’s invasion, a rare comment on such figures and far below estimates of Ukrainian casualties from Western leaders.
Russian forces kept up rocket attacks on infrastructure and airstrikes against Ukrainian troop positions along the contact line, the Ukrainian general staff said Friday, adding that Moscow’s military push has focused on a dozen towns including Bakhmut and Avdiivka — key targets for Russia in the embattled east.
Late Thursday, Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, relayed new figures about Ukrainian soldiers killed in battle, while noting that the number of injured troops was higher and civilian casualty counts were “significant.”
“We have official figures from the general staff, we have official figures from the top command, and they amount to between 10,000 and 12,500-13,000 killed,” Podolyak told Channel 24.
The Ukrainian military has not confirmed such figures and it was a rare instance of a Ukrainian official providing such a count. The last dates back to late August, when the head of the armed forces said that nearly 9,000 military personnel had been killed. In June, Podoljak said up to 200 soldiers died each day in some of the heaviest fighting and bloodshed of the year.
On Wednesday, Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Union’s executive committee, said 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed before her office corrected her comments.
Last month, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley said that up to 40,000 Ukrainian civilians and “well” over 100,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded in the war so far. “Probably the same on the Ukrainian side,” he added.
The United Nations Office for Human Rights said 6,655 civilians had been killed and 10,368 injured in its latest weekly update released on Monday, but its tally included only confirmed casualties. and may have significantly underestimated the actual numbers. At least three civilians have been killed in Ukraine in the past 24 hours and 16 others injured, the Ukrainian president’s office said on Friday. The deputy director of the agency, Kirilo Tymoshenko, told Telegram that Russian forces had attacked his nine regions in southeastern Ukraine with artillery, missiles and aircraft.
Ukrainians were gearing up for freezing winter temperatures as the recent Russian campaign hit infrastructure such as power plants and transformers, leaving many without access to heating, water and electricity.
Ukraine has been under heavy Russian artillery and drone attacks since early October. Artillery fire has intensified in southern Kherson since Russian forces withdrew and Ukrainian forces recaptured the southern city almost three weeks ago. Kherson regional governor said Friday that three people were killed and seven injured on Thursday. Russian forces attacked residential areas in the city of Kherson, some of which remained without electricity after the Russian strike cut power on Thursday.
In the East Donetsk region, Ukrainian governor Pablo Kirilenko said Russian artillery shelling had significantly intensified. Russian forces are trying to besiege the main city of Bakhmut by capturing several surrounding villages and blocking important roads.
There have also been reports of Russian attacks on towns across the Dnieper from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. In the northeastern province of Kharkiv, officials said two women were injured in Russian artillery fire.
