Zelensky says Ukraine has lost 43,000 soldiers – far lower than Trump’s claim

Kyiv says fatalities among its soldiers since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 have reached 43,000, a rare estimate much lower than a figure offered by US President-elect Donald Trump.

The toll was revealed by President Volodymyr Zelensky in a statement on the social media platform X on Sunday, hours after Trump claimed that Ukraine’s had “ridiculously lost” 400,000 soldiers.

Still, it’s unclear if Trump was referring to wounded troops as well as those killed. Zelensky said there had been 370,000 cases of “medical assistance for the wounded” on the battlefield, including light or repeat injuries. About half of the Ukrainian soldiers wounded in action have later returned to service, he said.

In a Truth Social post on Sunday, the morning after a meeting in Paris with Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump provided an estimate of casualties for both Ukrainian and Russian troops in the almost three-year old war.

“Close to 600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead,” Trump said.