Ukraine’s losses have fallen to 30 dead per day – Zelenskyy
KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO — FRIDAY, 22 JULY 2022, 22:08
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that currently about 30 Ukrainian servicemen are dying and about 250 are being wounded at the front each day.
Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with The Wall Street Journal
Details: According to the president, at the height of the hostilities in May and June, Ukraine was losing 100-200 servicemen per day, but now that number has dropped to 30 dead and about 250 wounded per day.
"I can tell you for sure, because I live with this every day," he asserted.
Zelenskyy refused to reveal Ukraine's total military losses since the start of the war, but said they were several times lower than Russia's.
He noted that the recent supply of weapons by the US and allies, particularly the HIMARS rocket launcher systems and 155-mm howitzers, has helped to stabilise the situation in Donbas: earlier the Russians had been firing 12,000 artillery shells daily against 1-2,000 Ukrainian shells, but now Ukraine can produce about 6,000 shells per day, while Russia is beginning to experience shortages of ammunition and troops.
According to Zelenskyy, this change in the balance of firepower has helped reduce Ukrainian losses.
The president said that the stabilisation of the front line in Donbas will enable Ukraine to advance in other directions. However, he refused to discuss where and when Ukraine plans to launch a counteroffensive.
Zelenskyy also emphasised that Ukraine needs air defence equipment to protect Ukrainian cities from Russian missiles.
According to him, air defence equipment would cost the US and Europe much less than keeping the Ukrainian economy afloat with a monthly budget deficit of US$5 billion.
Previously: Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov stated that the Armed Forces of Ukraine suffered their greatest losses in the conflict with the Russian invaders in May of this year, when up to 100 soldiers were dying per day, and between 300 and 400 were being wounded.
Background :
- In mid-May, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that 50-100 Ukrainian soldiers could be dying [per day] in battles with the Russian invaders on the most challenging fronts in the East of Ukraine.
- At the beginning of June, Mykhailo Podoliak, the adviser to the head of the President's Office, reported that the Ukrainian military was losing 100-200 people every day.
