55,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed in war with Russia, Zelensky says
Sarah Rainsford,Eastern and Southern Europe correspondent, Kyivand
Paulin Kola
The number of Ukrainian soldiers killed on the battlefield in the four years of war with Russia is 55,000, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Zelensky announced the figure in an interview with France 2 TV on Wednesday. Additionally, a large number of people are considered officially missing, he said.
While both Kyiv and Moscow have regularly published estimates of the other side's losses, they have been reluctant to detail their own. However, the BBC has confirmed the names of almost 160,000 people killed fighting on Russia's side in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump has been leading efforts to end the war that began with Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbour on 22 February 2022.
Special US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, held talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, for a second day on Thursday in an effort to try and thrash out the details of the US-proposed peace deal.
It was the second such trilateral meeting and the talks had been "detailed and productive", Steve Witkoff wrote on X, but "significant work remains".
The most difficult issue is territory, with Russia demanding that Ukraine cedes the rest of the eastern industrial region of Donbas that Moscow does not currently control.
Zelensky said the talks had not been easy, and Ukraine would remain "as constructive as possible", but wanted "faster results".
Trump often says thousands of Ukrainians and Russians die unnecessarily every week. Western intelligence agencies also publish estimates, which are impossible to verify.
The last time Zelensky gave an update on Ukraine's casualties was in December 2024, when he put deaths at 43,000.
In his interview with French television, he said: "In Ukraine, officially the number of soldiers killed on the battlefield - either professionals or those conscripted - is 55,000."
The official number of dead cited by Zelensky is considerably lower than Ukraine's total losses. As he said himself, "a large number of people" are registered as missing.
As of six months ago, Ukraine's interior ministry had recorded more than 70,000 people as officially missing - both soldiers and civilians - but the breakdown is never given.
The true figure may be higher - information about the number of dead is highly sensitive and affects morale.
Across Ukraine, military graves are prominent in all cemeteries - marked with blue and yellow national flags. They often have an image of the soldier in uniform engraved on the headstones.
We have also met mothers still searching for their sons, who never returned from battle.
Often, they cling to hope that the men are prisoners of war, captured and held in Russia somewhere but not on any official lists.
Access to Russian prisons for organisations like the Red Cross is highly restricted.
The alternative is that the missing men have been killed and their bodies not recovered from territory now controlled by Russia, or that their remains have not yet been identified using DNA testing.
Every so often, the two countries arrange an exchange of bodies - in addition to swapping prisoners of war - but there has been nothing at all since last August.
Another agreement on swapping prisoners was reached in the Abu Dhabi talks, Witkoff announced. It involved the exchange of 314 prisoners - "the first such exchange in five months", he said.
"While significant work remains, steps like this demonstrate that sustained diplomatic engagement is delivering tangible results and advancing efforts to end the war in Ukraine," Witkoff added.
Zelensky confirmed 157 Ukrainians were released, and vowed to continue work so everyone was returned home. Russia's ministry of defence also showed pictures of its soldiers after they had been released by the Ukrainians.
At the end of the talks, the US European Command issued a statement saying the US and Russia had agreed to re-establish high-level military-to-military dialogue, which was suspended in the autumn of 2021.
"This channel will provide a consistent military-to-military contact as the parties continue to work towards a lasting peace," the statement said.
The Abu Dhabi talks began as Russia renewed attacks on Ukraine after a week-long pause that Trump had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to observe as a fierce cold swept Ukraine.
It has been targeting the country's energy sector, leaving thousands without power and heating as temperatures dropped to -20C (-4F)".
The Ukrainian president also said a large number of people were "officially missing", meaning the total death toll is thought to be much higher.
www.bbc.com
and Denmark 
announced a joint air defense package for Ukraine today valued at $250 million usd. The package consists of of the following:
has now been fully agreed to by EU 
envoys and will now be sent to EU Parliament for procedural approval. The full text of the bill has not yet been released, but key components have leaked and are as follows.
, Slovakia 
and the Czech Republic 
absolved from any debt responsibility. Individual EU countries can continue to fund Ukraine's military efforts using their own national budgets, on top of the broad loan.
, Norway 
, Iceland 
and Liechtenstein 
. There is a special carve out to allow the purchase of weapons from the United States 
that Europe is not capable of producing, or not capable of providing in a reasonable period of time.
, Canada 
, Japan 
and South Korea 
can also benefit from weapons purchases from their respective defense industries, however, they must first agree to opt in to a "fair and proportionate" percentage of the loan debt / interest in order to benefit from the funds being spent in their respective countries.
announced a new $56 million usd military aid package for Ukraine today. The exact contents of the package were not discussed, however, it will consist of armored combat vehicles which are likely to be BWP-1 IFVs, PT-91 Twardy MBTs and / or KTO Rosomak IFVs, all of which Poland has donated to Ukraine in previous packages.
also announced a new $51 million usd military aid package for Ukraine today. Per custom, Finland has not released the contents of the package, although the Government hinted at the fact that it will come from the Finnish defense industry.
: gifted Ukraine 20 Cerberus Air Defense Systems. The system is designed to identity and track UAS / UAV targets and work with a variety of integrated kenetic systems for the efficient elimination of threats. The package was announced in 2025, with delivery dates scheduled throughout 2026.
: there continues to be ongoing deliveries of IRIS-T Air Defense Systems in two variants for Ukraine. Germany and Norway have co-financed 16 SLM variants, 9 of which have been delivered, with 4 more scheduled to be delivered throughout 2026. Meanwhile, of the 24 SLS variant that have been pledged, 16 have arrived in Ukraine and 4 more are scheduled to arrive during 2026. These systems are complimented by ongoing deliveries of TRML-4D Air Defense Radars and hundreds of IRIS-T missiles on an annual basis. 
. These short range missiles are being used by Ukraine to fire from ground based vehicle launchers for the purpose of air defense against drones. Martlett has proven extremely accurate and Ukraine wants as many as it can get. The 5000 unit order was expected to take multiple years to deliver, with an initial delivery of 650 units delivered in late 2025 and several thousand more units set to arrive in stages throughout 2026 and 2027. An option for an additional 2000 units is available should Britain and Ukraine decide to fill it. 
bsky.app
