Kyiv, Ukraine
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Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior military adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that up to 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died since the start of Moscow's special military operation.
He told Ukrainian TV media outlet Channel 24 that Kyiv is now openly talking about the numbers of the killed. Podolyak said, "We have official evaluations by the General Staff, official evaluations by the commander-in-chief [Mr Zelensky], and they range from 10,000 to 12,500-13,000 killed."
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He added that the number of civilians killed could be "significant."
It's rare for Ukraine to reveal casualty figures. The numbers given by Podolyak have not been confirmed, BBC reported.
In June, he claimed that nearly 100 to 200 Ukraine's soldiers died every day.
Earlier, the EU Commission head Ursula Von der Leyen had during a video address on Wednesday (Nov 30) claimed that 100,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed. However, EU later clarified that the figures referred to both killed and wounded.
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Moscow's special military operation began on February 24, which till now has claimed the lives of 20,000 Ukrainian civilians, Leyen had claimed.
The Russian invasion has reached its ninth month and world leaders are still in talks to find ways to stop it.
(With inputs from agencies)
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