Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that 31,000 Ukrainian troopers have been killed in motion within the two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
Talking on the “Ukraine. 12 months 2024” discussion board in Kyiv, Zelenskyy stated that “every of those losses is a superb sacrifice” for Ukraine.
He added that “tens of hundreds of civilians” had been killed in occupied areas of Ukraine, however stated that no actual figures can be obtainable till the struggle was over.
It’s the primary time that Kyiv has confirmed the variety of its losses for the reason that begin of Russia’s full-scale struggle towards Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Russia has additionally supplied few official casualty figures. Unbiased Russian information outlet Mediazona stated on Saturday that about 75,000 Russian males died in 2022 and 2023 combating within the struggle.
A United States intelligence report declassified in mid-December 2023 estimated that 315,000 Russian troops had been killed or wounded in Ukraine. If correct, the determine would symbolize 87 % of the roughly 360,000 troops Russia had earlier than the struggle, in line with the report.
Delays in arms shipments
It has been two years since Russia invaded Ukraine and commemorations to mark the second anniversary introduced expressions of continued assist, new bilateral safety agreements and new support commitments from Ukraine’s Western allies.
However Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov highlighted that they nonetheless wanted to ship on their commitments if Kyiv is to have any probability of holding out towards Moscow and pressured that delays in arms shipments will price lives.
“We glance to the enemy: Their economic system is sort of $2 trillion, they use as much as 15 % official and nonofficial price range [funds] for the struggle, which constitutes over $100bn yearly. So mainly at any time when a dedication doesn’t come on time, we lose individuals, we lose territory,” he stated, talking on the Kyiv discussion board.
Europe has admitted it would fall far in need of a plan to ship a couple of million artillery shells to Ukraine by March, as an alternative hoping to finish the shipments by the tip of the 12 months.
Umerov highlighted that such delays put Ukraine at an additional drawback “within the arithmetic of struggle” towards Russia, which the West has stated is more and more constructing a struggle economic system.
Kyiv has additionally been weakened by the blocking of a significant $60bn US support package deal amid political wrangling within the US Congress.
US President Joe Biden stated the hold-ups immediately contributed to Ukraine being compelled to withdraw from Avdiivka.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated he was “deeply satisfied that the US is not going to abandon Ukraine when it comes to monetary, army and armed assist”.
‘Plan for brand new offensive towards Russia’
In current weeks, combating has intensified on components of the entrance line. On Sunday, Russian shelling and rocket strikes continued to pummel Ukraine’s south and east, as native Ukrainian officers reported that at the least two civilians had been killed and eight others had been wounded within the Zaporizhia and Kherson provinces.
Moscow and Kyiv additionally continued to commerce nightly drone assaults, with Ukraine’s air defences capturing down 16 of 18 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched in a single day by Moscow and a Russian drone on Sunday morning putting an unspecified facility in Ukraine’s western Khmelnytskyi area, the regional army administration reported with out giving particulars.
Russian troops additionally seemed to be urgent on west of Avdiivka, the strategic metropolis whose seize this month handed Moscow a major victory.
Zelenskyy advised a information convention on Sunday that Ukraine has a transparent plan for a brand new counteroffensive towards Russian forces.
Kyiv’s troops performed a counteroffensive final 12 months, however had been unable to interrupt by means of ready defensive traces within the Russian-occupied south and east.
“There’s a plan [for a counteroffensive], the plan is obvious, I can’t let you know the main points,” Zelenskyy stated.
He stated {that a} main shake-up that noticed the top of Ukraine’s army changed earlier this month was linked to the brand new plan of motion on the battlefield.
“This plan is expounded to the change of administration; there are corresponding adjustments. A number of plans will probably be ready as a consequence of a leak of knowledge,” Zelenskyy stated, with out elaborating.
Earlier he stated that Kyiv’s plans to conduct a counteroffensive final 12 months had been leaked and ended up “on a desk within the Kremlin” earlier than the operation had even begun.
In the meantime on the discussion board in Kyiv, in addition to highlighting points in army deliveries, Umerov insisted that Ukrainian forces had been doing “every part that’s potential, and likewise what’s not possible, to safe a breakthrough” this 12 months.
The defence minister stated {that a} “sturdy” army technique is already in place for the approaching months, however didn’t disclose particulars.
