more than 26,000 Ukrainians missing since the start of the conflict, according to kyiv

More than 26,000 Ukrainians, including 15,000 military personnel, have been missing since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, announced Thursday October 5 a Deputy Interior Minister, Leonid Tymchenko, on national television. “Among them, 11,000 are civilians and around 15,000 are military”he explains.

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These are people about whom the Ukrainian authorities have no news, including in territories occupied by the Russian army, the minister’s spokesperson told AFP. This provisional assessment only concerns Ukrainians whose data could be “officially verified”, she adds. “This figure could still increase” as the checks continue.

No official total assessment

Ukraine does not reveal its total human losses in the war with Russia. If civilian deaths in Russian attacks are communicated daily by the authorities, military losses are not revealed at all.

THE New York Times recently estimated that 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 100,000 to 200,000 wounded since the start of the invasion, relying on indications from American officials on condition of anonymity. The Russian toll would be much heavier, with 120,000 dead and 170,000 to 180,000 injured, but Russian reserves are significantly greater.