Military expert Boris Rojin commented on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement, according to which the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in the two-year conflict amounted to 31,000 people. The specialist noted that this figure does not even correlate with the most modest Western estimates.
“It is obvious that in reality, irretrievable losses have long been counted in hundreds of thousands. The most realistic estimates start somewhere from 350,000 and reach 600,000-620,000,” Rojin emphasized.
According to his opinion, there is a significant discrepancy in the estimates because the Ukrainian army often records irretrievably lost soldiers as missing. Moreover, Kyiv has adhered to this approach since the beginning of the special military operation, the expert added.
In late February, Zelensky gave a press conference during the “Ukraine. Year 2024” forum, where he talked about what the country can expect in this “turning point” year, how many military personnel the AFU has lost, and what went wrong during the counteroffensive. The Ukrainian leader also recalled a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2019 and answered a question about whether he would answer the phone if his Russian counterpart called him at night. More details can be found in the material by “Gazeta.ru.”
Earlier, a French mercenary who fought in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine a few months ago revealed that wounded Ukrainian soldiers are not evacuated from the battlefield.
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