Zelenskyy puts the Ukrainian war died at more than 45,000 – DW – 02/05/2025

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that 45,100 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed by defending the country against the Russian invasion since February 2022.

390,000 other soldiers were injured, he said.

What does Zelenskyy say?

With the situation on fronts largely in an impasse as the third anniversary of the start of high -scale war approaches, Zelenskyy said he would be willing to direct interviews with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end Conflict.

“If this is the only configuration in which we can bring peace to the citizens of Ukraine and not to lose people, we will certainly opt for this configuration,” he told the personality of the British media Piers Morgan in an interview broadcast on Youtube on Tuesday.

He added that such discussions should involve “four participants”.

“If people believe that we have to move on the diplomatic track and that I think we are ready to move on the diplomatic track, there must be the United States, Europe, Ukraine and Russia,” said -Ali said.

While Zelenskyy stressed that kyiv would not recognize the occupation of Russia in Ukrainian territory, he recognized that Western support had been “unfortunately … insufficient to push Putin completely outside our territories”.

When he was asked how he would feel if he was sitting in front of Putin at a negotiation table, the Ukrainian chief said: “I would not be nice to him, I consider him an enemy. To be honest , I think he also considers me an enemy. ” Putin tried directly at Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy estimated the Russian victims at more than 350,000 dead and up to 700,000 injured or missing since 2022.

The figures could not be checked independently.

What role does the American president Donald Trump play?

Provisional discussions on negotiations are not only the result of the victims and the fatigue of war; This coincides with the return of American president Donald Trump to the White House having promised to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible.

The way he intends to do so is not clear, with his statements so far threats to drawing Ukraine military support to the threats of new economic sanctions against Russia.

In Tuesday’s interview, Zelenskyy stressed that he did not want to see Russian sanctions raised, saying that he thought that “would increase the risk of a second invasion” in the future.

Earlier Tuesday, Zelenskyy told kyiv journalists that his team was already in contact with the highest official of Washington, Keith Kellogg and the national security advisor Michael Waltz, and that there were “dates of work “For an American delegation to visit.

“Now the dates and members of the delegation are contained, and we are waiting for the team,” he said. “We will work together.”

Could Ukraine give us access to “rare earths”?

Trump on Monday asked for access to key strategic minerals in Ukraine in exchange for continuous American military security for kyiv. The idea was first launched by Zelenskyy last year, which said that it would be “fair” to offer American companies access to rare metals that are essential for various technologies.

Although almost 20% of the Ukrainian territory is currently under Russian occupation, Zelenskyy said that Kyiv still had access to “sufficient” quantities of rare resources.

“I would like us to have business … to develop this area here,” he said, according to comments published by his office.

“We are open to the fact that all of this can be developed with our partners, who both help us protect our lands and push the enemy with their packages of arms and sanctions. It is absolutely fair.”

A large part of Ukraine’s mineral resources are in the eastern Donbas region, a large part of which is controlled by the Russian forces and where Moscow has achieved additional gains in the past year.

Published by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah