Ukraine’s president has given a grim update on the death toll of his country’s soldiers during Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Volodymyr Zelensky said he would not disclose the number of wounded, as that would aid Russian military strategy.
Ukrainian officials usually keep casualty figures secret, and some sources say they are much higher.
The announcement came after the defence minister said half of the Western aid for Ukraine had been held up, costing lives and land.
Mr Zelensky said on Sunday that he was sharing the latest death count to counter the exaggerated numbers that Russia has spread.
“31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have fallen in this war. Not 300,000 or 150,000, or whatever Putin and his lying cronies are saying. But every one of these losses is a huge tragedy for us.”
He also spoke about the broader losses in the war, saying countless civilians had perished in the parts of Ukraine seized by Russia but the true number was unknown.
“I don’t know how many of them died, how many were killed, how many were butchered, tortured, how many were exiled.”
It is uncommon for Ukraine to give a military death count, and other estimates suggest a much higher number.
