Every Ukrainian Soldier Understands That Zelensky is Lying: Zakharova

All citizens of Ukraine, and especially the military, understand that President Volodymyr Zelensky is lying when discussing losses within the Ukrainian army. This was stated by Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to RIA Novosti.

"Every citizen of Ukraine understands that Zelensky is lying, first and foremost, every Ukrainian soldier. < ... > Previously, the president did not consider the Russian-speaking population of Donbas to be people, now he has stopped considering the citizens of the rest of Ukraine as human beings,” said Zakharova.

She noted that citizens of Ukraine are not people for their president, but units that can be used to receive more financial assistance from the West. According to the representative of the foreign ministry, Zelensky minimizes Ukraine's losses primarily for monetary reasons. By leaving behind 'dead souls' within the armed forces, Zelensky and his associates will simply extract funds from the assistance of Western countries.

Zakharova recalled that the real losses of Kyiv during the counteroffensive were disclosed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. On October 12, 2023, Putin stated that during the counteroffensive, which at that time was already failing, the Ukrainian armed forces lost 71,500 people, as well as 543 tanks and nearly 18,000 vehicles of various classes.

On February 20, the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu presented updated data, stating that throughout the entire counteroffensive of the Ukrainian armed forces, 166,000 people were killed or injured. At the same time, the losses of the Ukrainian army alone amounted to 23,000 people by January 2024, as Shoigu had announced on February 2.

Meanwhile, at a press conference held in Kyiv on February 25, Zelensky mentioned that the losses of the Ukrainian armed forces since February 2023 had reached 31,000, without specifying the number of injured and missing.