Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that 45,100 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed defending the country against the Russian invasion since February 2022.
Another 390,000 troops have been injured, he said.
What else did Zelenskyy say?
With the situation on the frontlines largely at a stalemate as the third anniversary of the start of the full-scale war approaches, Zelenskyy has said he would be willing to hold direct talks with Russian President Russian Vladimir Putin to end the conflict.
“If that is the only set-up in which we can bring peace to the citizens of Ukraine and not lose people, definitely we will go for this set-up,” he told British media personality Piers Morgan in an interview broadcast on YouTube on Tuesday.
He added that such talks would have to involve “four participants.”
“If people believe we must move to the diplomatic track, and I believe we are ready to move to the diplomatic track, there must be the United States, Europe, Ukraine and Russia,” he said.
While Zelenskyy stressed that Kyiv would not recognize Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territory, he acknowledged that Western support had been “regrettably … insufficient to push Putin fully out of our territories.”
Asked how he would feel if he sat opposite Putin at a negotiating table, the Ukrainian leader said: “I would not be kind to him, I consider him an enemy. To be honest, I think he considers me an enemy, too.” Putin has ruled out speaking to Zelenskyy directly.
Zelenskyy estimated Russian casualties at over 350,000 dead and up to 700,000 injured or missing since 2022.
The figures could not be independently verified.
What role does US President Donald Trump play?
Tentative talk of negotiations is not only a result of casualties and war fatigue; it coincides with the return of US President Donald Trump to the White House having promised to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible.
How exactly he intends to do that remains unclear, with his pronouncements thus far ranging from threats to pull US military support for Ukraine to threats of further economic sanctions on Russia.
In the Tuesday interview, Zelenskyy stressed he did not want to see Russian sanctions lifted, saying he believed this would only “increase the risk of a second invasion” in future.
Earlier on Tuesday, Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv that his team was already in contact with Washington’s top Ukraine official Keith Kellogg and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and that there were “working dates” for an American delegation to visit.
“Now the dates and members of the delegation are being agreed upon, and we are waiting for the team,” he said. “We will work together.”
Could Ukraine give US access to ‘rare earths’?
On Monday, Trump demanded access to key strategic minerals in Ukraine in return for continued US military security for Kyiv. The idea had first been floated by Zelenskyy last year, who said it would only be “fair” to offer US companies access to rare metals which are essential for various technologies.
Despite almost 20% of Ukrainian territory currently being under Russian occupation, Zelenskyy said Kyiv still had access to “sufficient” amounts of rare resources.
“I would like US business … to develop this field here,” he said, according to comments published by his office.
“We are open to the fact that all this can be developed with our partners, who are both helping us to protect our land and pushing the enemy back with their weapons and sanctions packages. This is absolutely fair.”
A large portion of Ukraine’s mineral resources is found in the eastern Donbas region, much of which is controlled by Russian forces and where Moscow has made incremental gains over the past year.
