Zelensky says 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed since invasion – Ukraine war

Speaking from the Ukrainian capital at an event to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Rustem Umerov said in the “mathematics of war” there are deadly consequences when promised military support “does not constitute delivery”.

He said it was also unprecedented in history that a country was expected to fight against an enemy with such a discrepancy in air power and military budget. It comes just a week after Kyiv was forced to pull its forces out of Avdiivka in the east of the country.

Soldiers on the ground told The Independent they blamed the withdrawal on the crippling rationing of ammunition and lack of air defence against a ferocious assault by Russia who dropped hundreds of bombs in the final push for the town.

“Fifty per cent of commitments are not delivered on time. Whatever commitments do not come on time means we lose people, we lose territories,” Mr Umerov said grimly, in response to a question posed by The Independent.

President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Sunday that Ukraine had reached the hardest stage for maintaining unity which was crucial for the war effort against Russia.

“Now is the most difficult moment for our unity, and if we all fall apart, from the outside and God forbid inside, then this will be the weakest moment. It has not happened yet,” the Ukrainian leader told a news conference in Kyiv.

Ukraine has a “clear” plan for a new counteroffensive against Russian forces, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, adding that he could not disclose details publicly.

Zelensky told a news conference in the capital Kyiv that troop rotations were critically important for the war effort and that Ukraine needed to better prepare its reserve forces.

The body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has finally been handed over to his mother, his spokesperson has said.

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Guy Walters joins a squad of postmen, IT workers and drivers being turned into frontline soldiers to find out why Operation Interflex – which has prepared more than 30,000 ordinary citizens to fight Putin – could be the training model for our own citizen army

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It noted that 30 per cent of English local authorities “regularly failed to provide homelessness data” for those on the scheme.

Its report said the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) explained that the data it received from more than 70 per cent of local authorities was “representative and sufficient to track trends so that it could respond accordingly with policy interventions”.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he was certain that the U.S. Congress would approve a major new batch of military and financial assistance and that Ukraine needed that decision to be made within a month.

“There is hope regarding Congress, and I am sure that it will be positive… They know that we need support within a month,” the Ukrainian leader told reporters at a news conference in Kyiv.

Ukraine needs U.S. Congress to approve aid within a month, Zelensky.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion two years ago, giving the first official figure for more than a year.

Zelensky told a news conference in Kyiv that he could not disclose the number of wounded because it would help Russian military planning.

“31,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed in this war. Not 300,000, not 150,000 … (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is lying there … But nevertheless, this is a big loss for us.”

Ukraine has not put a number to its military losses since the end of 2022, when presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the invasion on Feb. 24.

Russia does not disclose military losses, which it regards as secret.