43,000 Ukrainian Soldiers Killed Since Russian Invasion: Zelenskyy

French President Emmanuel Macron (C) poses with President-elect Donald Trump (L) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (R) at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Dec. 7, 2024. Aurelien Morissard/AP Photo

An estimated 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

In a social media update on Dec. 8, Zelenskyy also said that 370,000 have been wounded since the Russia–Ukraine conflict started on Feb. 24, 2022.

He said updated data on Russian losses show that 198,000 have been killed and more than 550,000 wounded.

Zelenskyy made the post after meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron as world leaders gathered over the weekend in Paris for the ceremonial reopening of Notre-Dame.

Trump wrote on Truth Social on Dec. 8 that Ukraine had lost “400,000 soldiers, and many more civilians.” He also said that Russia had 600,000 Russian soldiers who were “wounded or dead.”

Those Russian casualty figures align with those provided by the Pentagon on Oct. 9.

Trump wrote: “There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin.

“Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse.

“I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The world is waiting.”

Zelenskyy said that he had a “good meeting” with Trump.

He said, however, that a cease-fire “cannot simply end with a piece of paper and a few signatures.”

In October, the invitation for Ukraine to join NATO became a key point in Zelenskyy’s “victory plan.”

However, any decision for Ukraine to join the military alliance would require a longer process and the unanimous agreement of the member states.

Trump’s choice for special envoy for Ukraine and Russia is Keith Kellogg, an 80-year-old, highly decorated, retired three-star general.

Keith Kellogg, national security adviser to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, speaks during a press briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on Sept. 22, 2020. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Kellogg and former National Security Council chief of staff Fred Fleitz outlined a plan for ending the war earlier this year, saying that they would seek to freeze the front lines and push for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

Kellogg and Fleitz previously published some of the points of their plan in a research paper for the America First Policy Institute think tank, where both hold leadership positions.

That report characterized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an avoidable conflict brought about by the Biden administration’s foreign policy platform.

The paper also underscored Russian President Vladimir Putin’s repeated claims that Ukraine must not be allowed to join NATO.

U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles were fired from an undisclosed location in Ukraine on Nov. 19, 2024. Lachen Pyshe Telegram via AP

Amid continued hostilities in the Russia–Ukraine conflict, concerns are mounting over broader geopolitical implications.

Last month, Ukraine conducted its first strikes inside Russian territory with U.S.-made long-range ATACMS missiles

Russian forces then used a hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile to strike targets in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Nov. 21. The missile was armed with a non-nuclear payload.

On Nov. 18, Putin signed a new doctrine lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

The doctrine now states that an attack on Russia by any nation using conventional missiles supplied by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack.

The Associated Press and Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.