The tragic toll of the two years of Russian invasion of Ukraine amounts to hundreds of thousands of dead, according to Russian and Ukrainian data, but the exact numbers remain unknown.

Moscow and Kiev keep their military casualties under wraps, and Russia hides the number of civilians killed in areas it has occupied, such as the devastated Mariupol.

The unknown civilian toll

Official counts of civilian deaths since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022 fall far short of the truth because an independent tally has never been possible as there is no access to Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.

As of June 2023, Ukrainian authorities say they have been able to count 10,368 civilians whose bodies have been found. “We estimate that the number is more likely to be five times higher. Therefore around 50,000” victims, Oleg Gavris, the main adviser to the chief of staff of the president Volodymyr Zelensky, had clarified at the time.

The UN also considers the toll to be “significantly higher” than the estimated 10,000 civilians it was possible to count.

Ukrainian authorities estimate that the siege of Mariupol alone (from February to May 2022), a major port city in southern Ukraine currently under Russian control, cost the lives of at least 25,000 people, who were buried in mass graves. .

No toll was ever reported for other towns, such as Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

On the Russian side of the border, the death toll is at least 145, according to a count by the Russian news website 7X7.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers

On both sides, military casualties are facts that the general staffs keep quiet. One must therefore turn to estimates made by third-party sources.

Last August, the New York Times, citing US officers, estimated military casualties at 70,000 dead and 100,000 to 120,000 wounded on the Ukrainian side and 120,000 dead and 170,000 to 180,000 wounded on the Russian side.

On January 29 this year, in his written reply to a member of parliament, British Defense Minister James Hippie estimated Russian losses at more than 350,000 dead and wounded.

Last Tuesday, the Ukrainian military reported that in two years it had killed or wounded nearly 405,000 Russian soldiers.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had stated for his part in December 2023 that 383,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed or wounded since the beginning of the invasion.

In the Ukrainian capital, four EU leaders – Ursula von der Leyen: More than ever, we stand firmly by Ukraine’s side

Four Western leaders, including the president of the European Commission, arrived in Kiev today in a show of solidarity with Ukraine on the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the country.

The president of the Commission Ursula von der Leyenthe prime minister of Italy Georgia Melonithe Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau and the prime minister of Belgium Alexander De Cro they traveled together to the Ukrainian capital overnight by train from neighboring Poland, the Italian government said in a statement.

“In Kiev to celebrate the 2nd year anniversary of Russia’s war against Ukraine. And to celebrate the extraordinary resistance of the Ukrainian people. More than ever, we stand firmly by Ukraine’s side. Financial, economic, military, moral. Until the country is finally freed“, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote in her post on “x”.

Meloni is expected to hold a conference call later today from Kiev with leaders from the G7, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also been invited to join the discussion.