Steph Deschamps / April 16, 2022
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has so far cost the lives of some 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers. This is what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the American news channel CNN in an interview, the first excerpts of which were broadcast on Friday.
According to the president, some 10,000 soldiers on the Ukrainian side have also been injured. It is difficult to say how many of them will survive, he said. According to Kiev, 20,000 Russian soldiers are now dead. Western estimates put the death toll at several thousand. Moscow itself recently spoke of some 1,350 soldiers killed in its ranks. Asked about videos released this week showing death and devastation in Ukraine, including a woman finding her son's body in a well, Volodymyr Zelensky said, This is a great pain for me. I can't look at this as a father, only because all you want after this is revenge and killing, he added. I have to look at this as the president of the state where a lot of people have died and lost their loved ones, and there are millions of people who want to live.
We all want to fight, Zelensky continued. But we must all do our best to ensure that this war does not go on forever. The longer it goes on, the more we will lose. All these losses will be like this one.