Tens of thousands of soldiers dead in Russia/Ukraine war

Investigators say over 70,000 Russian soldiers have been confirmed killed in Ukraine since the Kremlin launched its invasion more than two and a half years ago. The news came amid reports of more fighting and attempts by the Ukrainian president to meet his U.S. counterpart and the presidential candidates.

By Stefan J. Bos

Speaking before a crucial trip next week to Washington, where he will meet U.S. President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the vice president and presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, and address the United Nations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would present a “victory plan” to end the war.

He was also to meet former president and Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump who claims he wants to end the war on day one of his presidency.

However, Zelenskyy’s words were overshadowed by reality with reports that more than 70,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.

Separately, a cache of documents that the Ukrainian army said it had seized from abandoned Russian positions showed that Russia’s military command had anticipated Ukraine’s incursion into its Kursk region and had been making plans to prevent it for several months.

Commentators said the disclosure makes the disarray among Russian forces after Ukraine’s attack in early August all the more embarrassing.

Yet Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February, 2022 struck back and authorities said overnight a Russian missile hit the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killing a 12-year-old boy and two women aged 75 and 79.

Terrifying attack

Three more people were injured in what officials called a “terrifying” attack and taken to hospital.

Two buildings were reportedly destroyed and 20 more were damaged.

Authorities said Russian forces also launched three strikes on Friday on Kharkiv, injuring 15 people including three children.

Further south-east in the Kharkiv region, a Russian strike reportedly killed two people and injured two while in the southern region of Kherson, partly controlled by Russian forces, a woman was said to have died in Russian shelling of an area outside the main Ukrainian-held city, also known as Kherson.

The clashes have raised international concerns about the war in which hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and injured.

Listen to the report by Stefan Bos