Zelensky refutes Wall Street Journal's report on Ukrainian casualties, cites lower figures
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has labeled a recent report by The Wall Street Journal, claiming that Ukraine has suffered 80,000 losses on the front, as false. A day earlier, WSJ journalists had asserted that total casualties for Ukraine and Russia purportedly reach 1 million people. Zelensky emphasized that the media highly overestimated the defense forces' losses.
According to Interfax-Ukraine, Zelensky stated that the casualty figure for Ukraine in the war, cited by The Wall Street Journal, is inaccurate. When questioned about the validity of the American newspaper's September 17 report, which estimated Ukrainian losses in the war to be 80,000 and Russian losses around 200,000, Zelensky categorically denied these numbers.
"80 thousand? That’s a lie. The real figure is much lower than what was published. Significantly," Zelensky told reporters on Friday, September 20.
The WSJ report claimed that Ukraine and Russia have lost one million people, killed and wounded, in the conflict. The publication suggested that Ukraine, with its smaller population, would find it harder to cope with losses, while the long-term demographic consequences will be devastating for both nations, which were already facing demographic challenges before the war.
Furthermore, the WSJ article on Ukrainian and Russian casualties was commented on by Roman Kostenko, a member of parliament and colonel of the SBU. He said that Ukrainian losses at the front are definitely lower than what was reported in the American newspaper. However, the information remains classified and cannot be disclosed.