About 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia launched its war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a rare statement about the number of casualties.
In a post on social networks, the Ukrainian president said that 370,000 people were reported injured, although he said that this figure also includes soldiers who were injured more than once.
He claimed that as a result of the war, 198,000 Russian soldiers were killed and 550,000 others were wounded.
Kiev and Moscow have regularly published estimates of the losses suffered by the other side, but have never spoken in detail.
The new figure on the Ukrainian side represents a significant increase in deaths since the start of the war.
Zelensky said in February of this year that the number of victims reaches 31,000.
Zelensky's estimates of the Russian side's losses are similar to those offered by Western officials, who estimate that Russia has recorded 800,000 casualties, including those killed and wounded.
Moscow rejects these figures. Through a statement, the Kremlin has claimed that the Ukrainian losses are "several times greater" than the Russian ones.
Recent developments have led to an increase in the death toll.
Russian military forces continue to make small advances on the front line in eastern Ukraine, as well as in Russia's Kursk region.
Ukrainian forces control small swaths of Russian territory in Kursk, which they won through a surprise offensive into Russia in August this year.
Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Eight years later, it launched a full-scale war in Ukraine, seizing territory in the south and east of the country.
The war in Ukraine started on February 24, 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin calls the war a "special military operation" to demilitarize Ukraine.
The West has responded to Russia, hitting the economy of this country with harsh sanctions.
As a result of the war, thousands of people have died and millions more have been displaced from their homes./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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