About 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died defending their homeland from invading Russian armies in the three years since dictator Vladimir Putin launched the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in a rare casualty update.
That tally — which is about 15,000 less than what the US lost during eight years of fighting in Vietnam — doesn’t count the wounded, which Zelensky said has eclipsed about 370,000, according to The Independent.
Some of those soldiers were wounded more than once, and some of the injuries were minor. But the casualty list is still shocking in an era when full-scale ground wars are relatively rare.
Until now, neither Russia nor Ukraine have shared total military losses, with the outlet saying they are treated as state secrets.
But Zelensky added that Ukrainian troops have killed about 198,000 Russian soldiers and wounded more than a half-million.
Russian losses have surged in the last few months, he added — even as the invaders slowly gain ground in their advance across eastern Ukraine.
