Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed fighting Russian forces, as negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States met in Abu Dhabi for a second day of talks aimed at ending the war.
Speaking in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on France 2 TV on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said the battlefield death toll includes both professional soldiers and conscripts. He also said a “large number of people” are officially considered missing, without giving a figure.
Zelenskyy’s latest number follows a prior estimate he gave in February 2025, when he said more than 46,000 Ukrainian service members had been killed in combat. Ukraine and Russia have not regularly published comprehensive figures for killed, wounded, or missing throughout the conflict.
Abu Dhabi Talks Continue With U.S., Ukrainian, and Russian Teams
Negotiating teams from Russia, Ukraine, and the United States concluded a second day of discussions in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Thursday. Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said after the first day that the talks were “substantive and productive.”
U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said an exchange involving 314 prisoners had been agreed and linked the outcome to the Abu Dhabi discussions in a post on X.
The Abu Dhabi meetings follow earlier trilateral talks held last month that did not produce major breakthroughs.
Territory and Security Guarantees Remain Core Disputes
The talks remain stalled over territory in eastern Ukraine, particularly the Donbas region. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he wants to take the Donbas in its entirety, while Ukraine still controls parts of the area. Zelenskyy has rejected the idea of ceding those territories voluntarily.
Kyiv has also been pressing for security guarantees from Western partners as part of any agreement to end the war.
While allies have offered support commitments over the course of the conflict, Ukraine has sought guarantees that are formalized and specific.
Independent Estimates Point to a Wider Battlefield Toll
Recent independent analysis has described a far larger combined military toll since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
A report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimated Russia has suffered about 1.2 million casualties—killed, wounded, and missing—through the end of 2025, including as many as 325,000 killed.
The same CSIS report estimated Ukraine has suffered roughly 500,000 to 600,000 military casualties, including an estimated 100,000 to 140,000 killed. The report said combined Russian and Ukrainian military casualties could approach 2 million by spring 2026.
