Casualties mount in Ukraine as Russia stays away from peace talk

By Stefan J. Bos

As the new round of peace talks began, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy claimed that 66 countries had taken part. He called it proof that his peace plan to end Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War Two had "gradually become global."

Even Belarus leader and Russia ally Alexander Lukashenko Lukashenko said that Ukraine's demands for Russia to leave its territory in exchange for peace needs to be resolved at the negotiating table "so nobody dies."

It comes amid mounting concerns about the growing number of casualties among both Ukrainian and invading Russian forces.

Brigade killed

Kyiv says in recent days, Russia lost an entire brigade in Avdiivka, while Ukraine's southern forces said Russia's army suffered over 400 casualties a day.

Those figures and allegations have not been confirmed by Russia, which claimed to have shot down over 30 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula overnight.

Local media reported that drone debris caused a fire at an oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region bordering the Black Sea.

However, Ukraine also suffered setbacks as four police officers were reportedly wounded when a shell fired by Russian troops exploded by their police car in the city of Siversk, in Donetsk province.

Besides fights on the battlefields, diplomatic wrangling continues, with Russia threatening to confiscate assets belonging to European Union states it deems unfriendly.

It comes after Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU's executive European Commission, announced a proposal to use the profits from frozen Russian state assets to help Ukraine and its post-war reconstruction.