13,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — As many as 13,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed since Russia's invasion in February, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

"We have official estimates from the General Staff… And they range from 10,000 … to 13,000 dead," Mykhailo Podolyak told Ukraine's Channel 24 on Thursday.

Zelensky would make the official data public "when the right moment comes," he added.

In June, as Russian forces battled to take full control of the easternmost Lugansk region, Zelensky said Ukraine was losing "60 to 100 soldiers per day, killed in action, and around 500 people wounded in action."

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in September said 5,937 Russian troops had been killed in the nearly seven months of fighting to that point.

Both sides are suspected of minimizing their losses to avoid damaging the morale of their troops.

Top United States general Mark Milley last month said more than 100,000 Russian military personnel have been killed or wounded in Ukraine, with Kyiv's forces likely suffering similar casualties.

Those figures — which could not be independently confirmed — are the most precise to date from the US government.

Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the worst fighting in Europe in decades.