Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at least 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed on the battlefield since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, marking one of the rare public disclosures of Ukraine’s military losses.

Speaking in an interview with France TV on Feb. 4, Zelensky said the figure includes both professional soldiers and mobilized personnel who were killed during combat operations.

“Officially on the battlefield, the number of military personnel killed, whether career soldiers or people who were mobilized, is 55,000,” Zelensky said, adding that a significant number of Ukrainian service members are still considered missing.

Kyiv has largely refrained from publicly detailing its wartime casualties, particularly during the first two years of the invasion. In February 2024, Zelensky had previously stated that 31,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed, making the latest figure a notable update on the human cost of the war.

The Ukrainian president clarified that the current number does not include soldiers killed between 2014 and 2022, when Russia’s military aggression was largely confined to eastern Ukraine. According to United Nations estimates, approximately 4,400 Ukrainian soldiers were killed during that earlier phase of the conflict.

Russia does not publish official casualty figures. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Feb. 4 that Russian forces have suffered approximately 1,243,070 casualties since the full-scale invasion began on Feb. 22, 2022. These figures encompass killed, wounded, missing, and captured personnel, though they do not provide a breakdown.

Independent assessments offer a more conservative estimate. The Russian investigative outlet Mediazona, working with the BBC Russian service, has verified the identities of 168,142 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine as of Feb. 1.

A report released in January 2026 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said Russia has suffered “more losses than any major power in any war since World War II” during its campaign in Ukraine.

Zelensky also warned that Russia would face even heavier losses if it attempted to seize all of eastern Ukraine through military force. His remarks came as Ukraine, Russia, and the United States continue trilateral peace talks, with the status of the eastern Donbas region remaining a central issue.

“We, the Ukrainians, are perfectly aware of the price that every meter and every kilometer of this land costs the Russian army,” Zelensky said.

“They don’t count the people who die. We are forced to,” he added, estimating that a full Russian conquest of eastern Ukraine would cost another 800,000 Russian soldiers and take at least two years with limited territorial gains.

Despite these challenges, the Kremlin continues to demand that Ukraine withdraw completely from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, including areas that Russian forces have failed to capture after nearly four years of fighting. (ILKHA)