 "Zelenskyy says at least 55,000 Ukrainian troops killed since start of war")
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that at least 55,000 troops have died since Russia launched its full-scale war against the country in 2022. He added that a “great number” of soldiers are also missing in action.
“In Ukraine, officially, on the battlefield, the number of soldiers killed is 55,000. And there are a great number Ukraine lists as missing,” he said in an interview with French TV network France 2, which translated his comments.
Zelenskyy’s comments followed a second round of trilateral talks among Ukraine, Russia, and the US in the UAE. Kyiv has described the meeting as “substantive and productive”.
Meanwhile, a study by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has found that Russian and Ukrainian troops killed, wounded or gone missing could reach 2 million in a few months.
The Kremlin, however, has dismissed the report, saying it’s not “credible” and that only the Russian defence ministry can release the official number of casualties in the war.
How did the talks go?
A first day of talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States aimed at brokering an end to the war in Ukraine concluded Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, with Kyiv describing negotiations as “substantive and productive”.
While there was no apparent breakthrough in the most recent round of discussions, meetings were set to carry on into a second day, Kyiv said.
Wednesday’s talks came following weeks of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power infrastructure, which have left Kyiv residents in darkness and cold, with temperatures dropping as low as -20C.
Quick Reads
View AllDespite the Kremlin repeating its hardline demands ahead of the talks, Ukraine’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov said the first day had been “substantive and productive, focused on concrete steps and practical solutions”.
In Ukraine, foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy said Kyiv was “interested in finding out what the Russians and Americans really want.”
The content of the talks was on “military and military-political issues,” he added, without elaborating.
With inputs from agencies
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