European Commission head announces 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers died; later cuts these data from her speech

The data announced by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also apply to the wounded, explained on Twitter the director of political communications of the EC, Dana Spinant.

"The estimation used, from external sources, should have referred to casualties, i.e. both killed and injured, and was meant to show Russia‘s brutality," she tweeted. 

At the same time, the spokesman of the President of Ukraine, Serhiy Nikiforov, in a comment to Suspilne, said that only the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the Minister of Defense, or the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine should provide information about the losses. He added that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will make public the official data "when the right moment comes," because this is sensitive information.

The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that Ukraine has lost 100,000 soldiers dead in the war with the Russian Federation, according to one of the Ukrainian mass media. 

Von der Leyen dedicated the appeal to the plan to confiscate frozen Russian assets and the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute  Russia for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

"Russia's invasion of Ukraine brought death, devastation and untold suffering. We all remember the horrors of Bucha. According to estimates, more than 20,000 civilians and 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died today," said the President of the European Commission.

She said that Russia must pay for its terrible crimes. Von der Leyen noted that the EU proposes to create a specialized court with the support of the UN to investigate and prosecute Russian war crimes.

• According to the official data of the General Staff, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russian military has lost 88,880 soldiers, 2,914 tanks, 5,872 armored combat vehicles and 1,562 UAVs.