This Wednesday, November 30, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said in a speech that 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers had lost their lives. since the beginning of the war with Russia, as well as 20,000 civilians. Numbers that challenge and that would seem wrong. In fact, the passage in question from his speech was subsequently deleted from the text published on the website of the European Commission. The video of the speech was also replaced with one where the numbers were no longer mentioned. Shortly following, Diana Spinant, a spokeswoman for the institution, clarified that this number included in addition to soldiers killed those who were injured.
These estimates caused a strong reaction in Ukraine. In fact, most of the Russian media picked up on this data, exposing it at the same time as proof of Ukraine’s defeat in the conflict. “We cannot confirm this figure”, said the Ukrainian army. “We asked the European Commission where Ursula von der Leyen got this information from.“, for his part reacted a spokesman for the presidency.
Remember that in times of war it is difficult to obtain precise figures on the number of deaths. In fact, Russia and Ukraine are reluctant to communicate on the subject, considering this information to be sensitive. Only the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the Minister of Defense, or the President are authorized to speak on the subject.