In an interview with Interfax Ukraine, National Security and Defense Secretary Oleksiy Danilov refuted Politico’s claim that there have been 100,000 casualties among Ukrainian soldiers since the start of Russia’s full-scale war.
On March 15, Politico reported, citing U.S. officials, that “upwards of 100,000 Ukrainian forces have been killed or wounded in the year-long war.”
“I declare to you, with full responsibility, that we do not have 100,000 casualties in the military,” Danilov told Interfax Ukraine. “This is impossible. Our military knows the exact number, the president knows. During this war, this is closed information, but 100,000 is completely untrue.”
According to Danilov, the ratio of losses is one to seven, one to eight, and one to 10 in Ukraine’s favor.
He added that Russia’s losses have been “simply insane,” noting that Ukrainian forces learned how to fight after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
On March 15, Danilov said that information published by the Washington Post about the lack of skilled military personnel due to losses at the front and doubts of anonymous Ukraine’s officials regarding “Kyiv’s readiness for the long-awaited spring offensive” is not true.
“We read these newspapers attentively before Feb. 24, when they all unanimously told us that there would be trouble, that we would not be able to hold,” Danilov said.
“I can say that none of this is true.”
