LIVE | Zelensky: Already 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers dead in war with Russia | Abroad

Some 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in the war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday. It is striking that the president mentions the figure. The government in Kyiv almost never says anything about the number of soldiers killed.

“31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in this war. Not 300,000 or 150,000, or whatever Putin and his lying circles claim. But every loss is big for us,” the Ukrainian president said at a news conference. He declined to comment on the number of injured because this information could help the Russians.

American and Russian sources previously estimated the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed at between 100,000 and 300,000.

The last time the government in Kyiv reported an official death toll was at the end of 2022. Then it concerned 13,000 soldiers killed since the Russian invasion on February 24 of that year.

Russia does not release figures on soldiers killed. Moscow sees that as a secret. The British Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that around 350,000 Russian soldiers have been wounded or killed in the war with Ukraine. The independent Russian online media Mediazona and Meduza estimated on Saturday that 75,000 Russians had been killed.

Ukrainian prosecutors have since the February 2022 invasion more than 120,000 cases of war crimes committed by Russian forces have been recorded. Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said this at the Ukraine 2024 forum in Kyiv. “There is no crime that the Russians have not committed during this war. Ukrainian courts have already handed down 80 sentences during the war.”

Ukraine strives for tribunals modeled on the Nuremberg trials after the Second World War, where Nazi war criminals were tried. Kostin cited the example of crimes committed in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which fell to Russian forces in May 2022.

Russian troops arrive regularly accused of executing unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war.

At the end of June, a UN human rights mission determined that both Russia and Ukraine without any legal basis arrests, tortures and abuses citizens. According to the head of the mission, Australian Matilda Bogner, the Russian occupiers committed most of the crimes.

The German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, had to cancel a visit to a water company in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv early because of a Russian reconnaissance drone. A spokesperson for the German foreign ministry said this on Sunday.

After the Russian reconnaissance drone was spotted above the waterworks, the delegation members had to quickly return to the armored vehicles of their convoy. Such drones usually precede a Russian air strike. As Baerbock’s convoy departed, the reconnaissance drone initially followed, eventually turning away.

Just before the incident, Baerbock had announced in Mykolaiv that Germany earmarks an additional EUR 100 million for humanitarian aid in Ukraine: resources intended for the reconstruction of water supplies, hospitals and homes. Total German humanitarian aid for the country invaded by Russia would amount to 1 billion euros, the minister said.

On Saturday evening, during her visit to the port city of Odesa, about 130 kilometers west of Mykolaiv, Baerbock had to to take shelter because the air raid siren went off for about twenty minutes. Shortly before Baerbock’s visit to Odessa, four more people were killed and several injured in two Russian drone attacks in the city.

Made it quite silent Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhny of the Ukrainian Army room for a new name. The former hero is now being kept silent in his hometown. Literally, noted correspondent Jan Hunin. The security service gave orders for it.

Ukraine and countries that support Ukraine would support Russia in the future perhaps invite them to a peace summit. Andri Jermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, said this. So far, Ukraine has refused to speak to Russia as long as there are still Russians on Ukrainian territory.

If the government in Kyiv talks to Russia, it would be about Zelensky’s vision for peace to be discussed at a summit in Switzerland, scheduled to take place sometime in the coming months. The current peace formula, which Zelensky presented in November 2022, is undiscussable for Russia. It states that Ukraine wants all territory back and that all Russian soldiers must leave.

Zelensky’s ideas are being examined in Switzerland with partners from Ukraine. Afterwards, a second consultation might be possible in consultation with Russiasaid a cautiously worded Jermak during a conference that was broadcast live on television.

,,There may be a situation where we jointly invite representatives of the Russian Federationafter which we will hand over the plan, should whoever represents the attacking country at that time really want to end this war and return to a just peace.”

Half of the Western arms shipments promised to Ukraine are delivered with delay. This is what Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umyrov said.

“Today a promise is not synonymous with delivery. Fifty percent of promises are not delivered on time“, the minister said at a forum on the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.That delay ‘costs us people, costs us territory’, the defense minister said.

The Ukrainian army is having a hard time on the front. After months of heavy fighting, it had to withdraw from the eastern city of Avdiivka due to a lack of men and ammunition.

Western countries must show more courage in the economic struggle against Russia and, for example, taking frozen assets. This is what British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in an opinion piece in the Sunday Times.

“We must be bolder in our attacks on Russia’s war economy”, wrote the British head of government. “And we must be bolder in confiscating hundreds of billions in frozen Russian assets.”

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union, among others, froze hundreds of billions of euros in assets. This means that Russia cannot access it, but these assets have not been seized.

That may be about to change. G7 countries are currently discussing the possibilities of using frozen Russian assets to provide aid to Ukraine, which needs financial help from abroad due to the ongoing war. Last week, the Bloomberg news agency reported that an international group of legal experts saw opportunities to take Russian assets without violating international law.

Sunak suggested that western countries the interest accrued on Russian billions in assets to Ukraine. The European Commission previously also proposed a tax on the returns generated by frozen assets, the proceeds of which go to Ukraine.

Russian troops have, according to the Defense Ministry progress has been made around Avdiivka and Donetsk. Seven Ukrainian counterattacks were also reportedly repulsed. In the meantime, the Ukrainian military top says that it is looking at how the defense at the front can be strengthened.

The Russian armed forces have stopped Ukrainian soldiers in the Donetsk region and strengthened their positions, reports the defense department. Also around Avdiivka, units “took more favorable lines and positions and also defeated manpower and equipment” from Ukraine, the ministry said.

Ukrainian top soldier Oleksandr Syrsky and Defense Minister Rustem Umyerov have paid a working visit to the front, Syrsky reports on Telegram. Where and when that visit took place is not stated.

,,We have analyzed the current situation in detail and discussed the necessary next steps, in particular the protection of troops from drones and aerial bomb attacks, as well as reinforcement of certain areas on the front,” Syrsky said.

The Ukrainian defense industry is producing, according to the government three times as many guns as a year ago. There are now a hundred state-owned companies active in arms production and four hundred private companies, says Minister of Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces currently has great difficulty in continuing to resist the Russian armed forces. This is partly due to a shortage of personnel, but also due to a lack of weapons and ammunition. Ukraine plans to “significantly increase ammunition production,” Minister Kamyshin said.

The Minister of Digital Transformation Mychaylov Fedorov says so does the country itself many drones produces. Of all the drones used on the battlefield against Russia, 90 percent are said to be of their own making.

This is a new live blog. You can read previous updates here.