Losses in the Ukraine war: Von der Leyen gives an irritating number – then the EU Commission has to delete the video
Created: 01/12/2022 05:20
By: Hannes Niemeyer
100,000 dead Ukraine soldiers in the war?
A sentence by Ursula von der Leyen confuses Kyiv.
The EU Commission then deletes the video in question.
Brussels – It is clear that the Ukraine war is a bloody affair.
However, it is unclear how high the losses on both sides are in the fighting.
Ukraine, in particular, often publishes figures on fallen soldiers on the Russian side.
However, the number of deaths cannot be independently checked and confirmed.
A statement by Ursula von der Leyen is therefore all the more irritating.
The sentences apparently even shake heads in Ukraine.
Losses in the Ukraine war: Ursula von der Leyen's video confuses Kyiv
In a speech published on the short message service Twitter, the President of the European Commission spoke of over 100,000 Ukrainian military personnel killed and an estimated 20,000 civilian deaths.
Der Leyen's statements are particularly irritating in Ukraine.
Presidential spokesman Serhiy Nykyforov emphasized to Ukrainian public television on Wednesday that only the supreme commander of the armed forces, the defense minister or the president can publish reliable figures on the casualties.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will make official data public "when the right moment" has come, as this is sensitive information.
According to Nykyforow, Kyiv has already asked Brussels where von der Leyen got her information from.
Ursula von der Leyen spoke about losses in the Ukraine war - and irritates Ukraine.
© Philipp von Ditfurth / dpa
An army spokesman also did not want to give any specific information on Wednesday.
"We cannot confirm this number and emphasize that the losses of the Ukrainian army are official information that is classified as confidential," Bohdan Senyk told the
Ukrajinska Pravda
online portal .
At the same time, he said that Kyiv would welcome it if the information provided by von der Leyen would help bring those responsible for the war in Russia to justice.
100,000 dead Ukraine soldiers?
Von der Leyen talks about losses – and the EU Commission deletes the video
Particularly explosive: The recording of the speech was finally deleted from the Leyens' official Twitter profile on Wednesday and replaced by a new video of the speech.
However, this was much shorter, the controversial loss passage was no longer included.
Dana Spinant, spokeswoman for the EU Commission, posted the shortened video on Twitter and thanked the many people who had drawn attention to the "inaccuracy of the figures".
According to Spinant, "the estimate used from external sources should relate to casualties, for example both killed and injured, and show the brutality of Russia".
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Just under three weeks ago, US General Mark Milley estimated the Ukrainian casualties at around 100,000 soldiers.
Ukraine has been repelling a Russian invasion since February.
Both sides rarely provide information about their own losses.
In the war, however, the casualties on the Russian side are apparently also high.
This puts the Kremlin boss in trouble.
Russian analysts already see a "desperate" Putin.
The propaganda state TV meanwhile threatened an attack on Berlin.
(han/dpa)
