Ukraine says nearly 9000 soldiers have been killed in the six months since the start of the Russian invasion while the United Nations estimates more than 5500 civilians have also died.
General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi provided what appeared to be the first public Ukrainian military death toll on Monday saying nearly 9000 soldiers had died in action.
Zaluzhnyi said many of Ukraine’s children needed to be taken care of because “their father went to the front line and, perhaps, is one of those almost 9000 heroes who died”.
Russia has not said how many of its soldiers have been killed.
Ukraine’s General Staff have estimated the Russian military death toll at 45,400.
Reuters has been unable to verify the military losses by either side.
Russia requested a United Nations Security Council meeting be held on Tuesday to discuss the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported, citing Deputy Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy.
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was captured by Russian forces shortly after they invaded Ukraine in February.
Artillery and rocket fire in the region of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor complex, on the south bank of the Dnipro River, has stirred fears of a nuclear disaster and led to calls for the surrounding area to be demilitarised.
Ukraine has accused Russia of basing troops and storing military hardware on the grounds of the power station and using it as a shield from which to bombard Ukrainian government-controlled territory to the west and north.
Russia denies this and accuses Ukraine of targeting Zaporizhzhia with shells and drones.
Overnight, Russian forces fired rockets into nearby Nikopol, Krivyi Rih and Synelnykovskyi, regional Governor Valentyn Reznichenko wrote on Telegram.
Ukraine’s capital Kyiv banned public celebrations this week to commemorate independence from Soviet rule, citing a heightened threat of Russian attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at the weekend that Russia could try “something particularly ugly” in the run-up to Wednesday’s 31st independence anniversary, which also marks half a year since Russia invaded.
Kyiv local authorities have banned public events related to the anniversary from Monday until Thursday due to the possibility of rocket attacks, a document showed.
The capital is far from front lines and has only rarely been hit by Russian missiles since Ukrainian defenders repelled a Russian ground offensive to seize the capital in March.
Fears of intensified attacks were likely to rise after Russia’s Federal Security Service accused Ukrainian secret services on Monday of killing Darya Dugina, daughter of a Russian ultranationalist ideologue, in a suspected car bombing on Saturday, Russian news agencies reported.
Ukraine has denied being involved.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, citing its monitoring mission in Ukraine, said on Monday 5587 civilians had been killed and 7890 wounded between February 24 and August 21, mainly from artillery, rocket and missile attacks.
with AP
