“I don’t know if I have a right to tell you the numbers of our losses. Every single person is a tragedy,” he said, adding, “31,000 [members] of Ukraine’s military were killed during this war.”
The last time Ukraine publicly disclosed the number of troops lost in the fighting was in December 2022, when an adviser to Zelensky said that up to 13,000 troops had been killed. The numbers were believed to have climbed significantly in the past year as Ukraine fought to push back Russian forces and several battles settled into grinding stalemates.
Kyiv keeps casualty figures closely guarded so as to not dampen public morale, and the figure Zelensky provided Sunday could not be independently verified. He also claimed that Russia had suffered 500,000 casualties, including 180,000 troops killed in action.
A leaked Pentagon document labeled top secret and dated Feb. 21, 2023, included an assessment of the war’s military casualties. It said U.S. officials believed that between 15,500 and 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, with an additional 106,500 to 110,500 wounded.
The same assessment said that between 35,000 and 42,500 Russian soldiers had been killed and 150,500 to 177,000 had been wounded. Those figures were in line with assessments by Western officials, who have said that more than 200,000 Russian soldiers probably have been killed or wounded.
The conference where Zelensky addressed reporters Sunday also included panel discussions with top Ukrainian leaders who outlined military plans for the year ahead.
Concerns over Ukraine’s ability to hold ground are growing as Republicans in Congress block a U.S. aid package that officials here say is urgently needed, with troops already rationing shells at the front line for several months.
The delays have pushed Kyiv to boost its domestic arms production, and Ukrainian officials described plans to continue local development of drones and other modern weapons, including a long-range missile that can strike more than 400 miles away.
But Zelensky made clear that foreign aid remains Ukraine’s only hope for a victory.
“Whether Ukraine will lose is dependent on you, our partners, the Western world,” Zelensky said. “We will not lose this war if we get the weapons. We will win.”
He acknowledged that “the next couple of months will be difficult” and said Russia will plan to launch a new counteroffensive in late spring or early summer.
His comments came as Ukrainian forces lost further ground outside the eastern city of Avdiivka, with troops retreating to the outskirts of Lastochkyne, the first village to the west, overnight on Saturday. A soldier stationed in the area said that due to heavy shelling, some troops also retreated Sunday from the next village, Orlivka, but that others remained in positions there despite the relentless assault.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the conference, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, confirmed that a small number of Ukrainian soldiers were left behind in Avdiivka during last weekend’s retreat, but denied reports that the total amounted to hundreds or thousands of troops.
Russian forces relied heavily on aerial bombardment in the final days of the battle for the city, and on Sunday, a Russian warplane circled over the area as the two sides exchanged artillery fire.
How the rest of the year plays out will depend in part on how many air defense systems Ukraine can secure, Zelensky said. If Ukraine received 10 Patriot systems for use in industrial centers and on the front line, he said, Russian forces “wouldn’t come closer; we would break their defense lines and we would go forward.”
“Ten Patriots, that would cardinally change the situation,” he added.
Washington originally refused to provide Ukraine with Patriot systems but changed course in late 2022. Ukraine has since pleaded for more of the systems, which are highly effective against ballistic missiles Russia fires at Ukrainian cities.
Now Ukraine is awaiting $60 billion in aid, which the U.S. Senate approved as part of a $95 billion national security package on Feb. 13. But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he does not plan to even allow a vote on the matter.
“I still have hope for the Congress,” Zelensky told reporters. “I’m still positive, otherwise I won’t understand what world we live in.”
At home, Ukraine is facing pressure to recruit new soldiers and allow others — exhausted after intense combat — to demobilize. Thousands of amendments have been made to a proposed mobilization law in parliament, and an audit is now underway to identify troops who were mobilized but have still not served at the front.
“It’s very important to find those people,” Zelensky said.
That audit is among the first major tasks for Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, whom Zelensky appointed commander in chief this month in a controversial shake-up that removed the popular Gen. Valery Zaluzhny from the post.
When a reporter asked about his decision to fire Zaluzhny, Zelensky declined to comment, saying only that it was “an internal matter.”
O’Grady reported from the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Kostiantyn Khudov in the Donetsk region, and Isabelle Khurshudyan and Anastacia Galouchka in Kyiv contributed to this report.