Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday, the 109th day since Russia’s invasion, that Moscow’s death toll in the conflict may pass 40,000 in June.
“Russian generals see their people simply as the cannon fodder they need to gain an advantage in numbers — in manpower, in military equipment. And this means only one thing: Russia can cross the line of 40,000 of its lost troops already in June. In no other war in many decades have they lost so much,” Zelenskyy said in his daily address.
He added: “The Russian army is trying to deploy reserve forces in Donbas. But what reserves can they have now? It seems that they will try to throw into battle poorly trained conscripts and those who were gathered by covert mobilization.”
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The Ukrainian president also stressed the call for advanced air defense systems from the West.
“Today is the 109th day of a full-scale war, but not the 109th day that we tell our partners a simple thing: Ukraine needs modern missile defense systems. The supply of such systems was possible this year, last year and even earlier. Did we get them? No. Do you need them? There have already been 2,606 affirmative answers to this question in the form of various Russian cruise missiles that have hit Ukrainian cities,” he said.
“In our cities, in our villages for the period from February 24. These are lives that could be saved, tragedies that could have been prevented if Ukraine had been listened to.”
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