Around 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or maimed in fierce fighting with Russia since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Volodymyr Zelensky revealed this week.
“Since the start of the large-scale war, Ukraine has lost 43,000 soldiers killed in combat on the battlefield,” the Ukrainian president said on social media.
“There have been 370,000 cases of medical assistance to the wounded,” he wrote, adding that “half” of wounded soldiers return to the battlefield.
The shocking casualty figures, which remain lower than many Western estimates, come as Russia continues to make significant progress in eastern Ukraine, albeit at a high human cost.
Both Russia and Ukraine have been reluctant to release official casualty figures, but Western officials say the bitter positional war has caused record losses for both sides, with tens of thousands killed and wounded each month.
Zelensky also said this week that he is open to the potential deployment of Western troops to Ukraine to ensure the country’s security as part of a broader effort to end the nearly three-year war.
The deployment would be a step toward Ukraine joining NATO, Zelensky said in a post on his Telegram channel.
“But before that, we must have a clear understanding of when Ukraine will be in the European Union and when it will be in NATO,” he added.
Their proposals follow a delicate diplomatic path amid international efforts to find a way to end Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II at a time when Russia has gained the upper hand in the fighting.
Ukrainian soldiers fire D-30 artillery in the direction of Toretsk, Ukraine, December 8, 2024.
Hospitallers medical staff carry an injured Ukrainian soldier onto their medical bus for transport to a hospital, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on December 6, 2024.
Ukrainian soldiers unload ammunition from an armored vehicle at its combat position in the direction of Toretsk
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks with the leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) during their meeting in kyiv on December 9, 2024.
US President-elect Donald Trump is seeking a ceasefire and met with Zelensky in Paris on Saturday.
But the Ukrainian president said on Monday that he would approach outgoing US President Joe Biden about Ukraine’s possible membership in NATO because he is still in office, while Trump does not yet have “legal rights” to decide on the matter.
Speaking of Zelensky, President-elect Trump said: “He wants a ceasefire.” He wants to make peace. We don’t talk about the details.
Trump noted that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s forces are suffering heavy losses in Ukraine.
“I am formulating a concept on how to end that ridiculous war,” he said.
The prospects of Ukraine joining the 32-nation NATO military alliance and of Western troops being stationed on its soil have been deeply divisive and contentious issues since the full-scale invasion of Russia began on February 24, 2022. .
At its summit in Washington in July, NATO declared Ukraine on an “irreversible” path to membership, but stopped short of inviting the country to join.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a “just and lasting” peace with Russia after a meeting with Donald Trump.
Hospitallers medical staff transport an injured Ukrainian soldier on their medical bus for transport to a hospital in the Donetsk region.
Ukrainian soldiers fire BM-21 artillery at their artillery fighting position in the direction of Kurakhove, Donetsk province
A serviceman from the 24th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fires his weapon in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine.
The United States and Germany have opposed Ukraine joining NATO while it is at war with Russia.
One obstacle has been the view that Ukraine’s borders would need to be clearly demarcated before Ukraine could join so that there was no doubt about where the alliance’s mutual defense pact would come into force.
The invading Russian army occupies about a fifth of Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea of sending Western troops to Ukraine last February.
But it raised the same fears of escalation that have led Western leaders to impose limits on weapons supplies and permits for their use.
European military heavyweights Germany and Poland immediately said they would not send troops to Ukraine.
Macron declined to provide details on which nations were considering sending troops, saying he preferred to maintain some “strategic ambiguity.”
Ukrainian forces are resisting a months-long attack by Russia centered on the eastern Donetsk region, where kyiv’s defenses are creaking.
Zelensky said on
“More than anyone, Ukraine wants this war to end. A diplomatic resolution would undoubtedly save lives. We are looking for it,’ he said.
Ukrainian soldier during infantry training in a building at an undetermined location in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on December 2.
Ukrainian servicemen of the mobile air defense unit fire a machine gun at Russian drones during a night patrol on December 2
Putin is seen issuing a threat to the West over the capabilities of his latest missiles.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s rival in the upcoming German elections, Friedrich Merz, said there is a “basic consensus” in Germany about continuing to provide military aid to Ukraine.
But during a visit to kyiv, he also highlighted differences with Scholz, who has refused to send long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine while insisting that everything possible must be done to prevent a broader war between the West and Russia.
Merz has been open to providing them and allowing Ukraine to hit military targets inside Russia, and has urged Scholz to send the Taurus system on several occasions.
“President Zelensky knows our position on the Taurus missiles… As it stands today, at the beginning of December 2024, it remains the same,” Merz said in kyiv.
Merz, who arrived in the morning by train from Poland, previously said on social media that “the war in Ukraine must end as soon as possible.” Putin will only enter into negotiations if Ukraine can defend itself.”
Meeting with Zelensky, Merz noted that France, the United Kingdom and the United States have a different position than the current German government.
“Our position is clear, as is that of my parliamentary group: we want its army to be in a position to reach the military bases in Russia, not the civilian population or the infrastructure, but the military objectives from which fight his country,” he said.
“With this restriction of scope, we are forcing your country to fight with one hand behind its back, and that is not our position,” he added.