Some 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died since the beginning of the Russian invasion, presidential advisor, Oleksiy Arestovych, said Saturday.
In a recent statement, the Ukrainian defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, had said as many as 100 Ukrainian soldiers were being killed every day in combat.
Arestovych’s remarks are the first time Kyiv has provided its complete death toll since the start of the war on February 24, although he described the figures as “approximate”.
The Ukrainian General Staff, meanwhile, estimates that the Russian Army has suffered some 32,000 casualties among its soldiers, including 150 in the last 24 hours.
Ukrainian military sources also reported that heavy shelling is continuing in the Kherson region, as well as along the entire Donbas front, and urged its Western allies to speed up the delivery of ammunition and heavy weapons supplies.
In his nightly message to the country, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “very fierce” fighting was ongoing in the Donbas against the Russian army, which he said is trying to destroy every city in the east of the country.
The Ukrainian president accused Russia of wanting “every city in Donbas – ‘every’ is not an exaggeration. Like Volnovakha, like Mariupol. All these ruins in once happy cities, black traces of fires, craters from explosions – this is all that Russia can give to its neighbors, Europe and the world.
This is probably “the fastest example of the complete degradation of any state – the path that the Russian state has covered in 107 days,” he added.