UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrived in Kyiv with a new aid package a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky had voiced questionable military losses.
Lammy is set to announce £55 million ($69 million) in new aid on Wednesday, including £3 million to send Ukrainian grain to Syria as part of the World Food Programme. British officials claimed the move was aimed at replacing Russian grain.
The Foreign Secretary is also pledging £17 million to help rebuild Ukraine’s energy system damaged after nearly three years of war. Lammy’s trip follows a visit by Prime Minister Keir Starmer last month, when the leaders of the UK and Ukraine signed what they called a “100-year partnership.”
In an interview on Tuesday, Zelensky said 45,100 Ukrainian soldiers had died in the war against Russia, with around 390,000 wounded. However, the figures were much different from what US President Donald Trump announced in late January, saying Ukraine had lost about 700,000 soldiers.
Back in 2024, The Economist, quoting various sources, including intelligence services, estimated the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed at 60,000 to 100,000, whereas The Wall Street Journal put the numbers at 80,000. However, both publications agreed on the number of wounded soldiers: 400,000.
And even earlier, in August 2023, US officials told the New York Times that about 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 100,000 to 120,000 wounded in the war at that time. Such figures cast a huge shadow over Zelensky’s recent statements.
