A top Ukrainian official revealed Wednesday that up to 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers are being killed or wounded each day in the Donbass region, with 200 to 500 killed on average and many more wounded, reported Axios.
The significance is that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 1 that 60 to 100 Ukrainian troops were being killed daily since the beginning of the war with Russia.
According to David Arakhamia, who leads Ukraine’s negotiations with Russia, this number has risen over the past two weeks.
Arakhamia, one of Zelensky’s closest advisers, claimed that Ukraine has recruited one million people into the Ukrainian army and has the capacity to recruit two million more, claiming that the Kiev regime has the ability to continue fighting in the Donbass.
According to Politico, The $1 billion in funding comes from $650 million in congressional Ukraine assistance passed by the US Congress last month and $350 million in drawdown authority.
The Biden administration announced a military aid package for Ukraine last Wednesday, including 1,000 anti-tank Javelin missiles, 50 command launch units, four Mi-17 helicopters, and four HIMARS systems.
Arakhamia acknowledged that Ukraine’s “negotiating position is actually quite weak, so we don’t want to sit at the table if we are in this position. We need to reverse it in some way.”
He also stressed that the Kiev regime needs a counter-operation to regain lost control over territory.
It is noteworthy that when US Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley was asked about the rate of Ukrainian casualties on Wednesday, he claimed that it was difficult to estimate the number.
But he said that previous media reports of around 100 killed and up to 300 injured each day had been “in the ballpark of our assessments,” not commenting on the latest Ukrainian estimates.
The Ukrainian official considered that what Ukraine lacks is the weaponry and ammunition to match Russia in what he called “one of the biggest fights of the 21st century.”
“We have the people trained to attack, to counterattack, but we need weapons for this,” he added.
It is noteworthy that US President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that his country will provide Ukraine with a new $1 billion security aid package.
Source: Agencies (edited by Al-Manar English Website)
