More than 10,000 Ukrainian fighters have been killed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said senior Ukrainian official Alexei Arstovich.
More than 10,000 Ukrainian fighters have been killed since Russia launched its invasion on February 24, the Ukrainian government said. These numbers were announced by Presidential Adviser Oleksi Arstovich, who said that the daily casualties since February have averaged 100 soldiers per day. Kyiv claims that Russia has lost three times as many troops since Vladimir Putin launched its offensive on February 24, although British intelligence puts the figure at 15,000 – the same number killed during the Soviet Union’s decade of war in Afghanistan. Russia has not provided casualty data since March.
The Daily Mail reports that Ukraine has pledged to “help as much as possible” in efforts to free two British men who fought with its forces and were sentenced to death last week by a Russian court. They are executed by shooting in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, which is controlled by Russian differences. Ukraine and Britain are making efforts to free them.
Sean Finer’s family of one of the soldiers said yesterday (Saturday) that they were “destroyed following the illegal show trial”, adding that he should be treated as a prisoner of war under the Geneva Convention. “We very much hope that all parties will cooperate urgently to ensure that Sean is released or replaced,” they said.
Russia claims the two are mercenaries, so they are not considered captive soldiers under the Geneva Convention, despite the fact that they have both lived in Ukraine since 2018 and have Ukrainian wives.
They served in the 36th Marine Division of Ukraine and were captured in Mariupol in April. Their families are hoping that they will be released in a prisoner exchange with Russia, Ukraine has told Britain that they will be given “priority” in any such deal. Presidential Adviser Alexander Rudnyansky said: “There will be a very high price, which will mean that we will have to replace a lot of Russian prisoners, in exchange for these two people.”