News
Zelensky: 31,000 Ukraine soldiers killed in war with Russia
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed during Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Je said he would not give the number of wounded as that would help Russian military planning.
It comes after the defence minister said half of all Western aid for Ukraine has been delayed, costing lives and territory.
Mr Zelensky said he was providing an updated death toll in response to the inflated figures that Russia has quoted.
“31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in this war. Not 300,000 or 150,000, or whatever Putin and his lying circle are saying. But each of these losses is a great loss for us.”
Speaking about the wider losses in the war, Mr Zelensky said tens of thousands of civilians had died in the areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia but the true number was unknown.
“I don’t know how many of them died, how many were killed, how many were murdered, tortured, how many were deported.”
According to the BBC, Iit is rare for Ukraine to provide a military death toll, and other estimates suggest a much higher number.
US officials in August put the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed at 70,000 and as many as 120,000 injured.
In terms of Russian losses, Mr Zelensky said 180,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and tens of thousands more injured.
BBC Russian, in a joint project with the Mediazona website, has established the names of more than 45,000 Russian service people who had died. But it estimates the total number to be greater than that.
In February, the UK’s defence ministry estimated that 350,000 Russian troops had been killed or injured.
President Zelensky’s address came after his defence minister, Rustam Umerov, called out the country’s Western allies for delays in military aid.
“At the moment, commitment does not constitute delivery,” he said.
Ukraine is currently experiencing a variety of setbacks in its mission to drive Russia from its territory.
Mr Umerov said that the lack of supplies put Ukraine at a further disadvantage “in the mathematics of war”.
“We do everything possible and impossible but without timely supply it harms us,” he said.
Germany warned in November that a European Union (EU) plan to deliver a million artillery shells by March would not be met.
In January, the EU said just over half of these would reach Ukraine by the deadline and that the promised amount would not be there until the end of 2024.
President Zelensky said one of the reasons Ukraine’s highly anticipated counter-offensive last year did not start earlier was the lack of weapons.
The legal team of suspended Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, say they are ready with factil evidence to defend her in court.
The team received a formal summons in the case filed against her by the Federal Government at the Federal Capital Territory High Court last week.
On Friday, May 16, 2025, the Federal Government filed the suit, marked CR/297/25, over alleged defamatory remarks made during a live appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on April 3, 2025.
The government accused the senator of “making imputation knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of a person”, citing Section 391 of the Penal Code, cap 89, Laws of the Federation, 1990.
Among the witnesses listed to testify during the trial were Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and a former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.
Others include Asuquo Ekpenyong, a senator; Sandra Duru; Maya Iliya, investigating police officers; and Abdulhafiz Garba, investigating police officers.
However, in a statement issued Friday night by Dr. Ehiogie West-Idahosa (SAN) on behalf of the legal team, Akpoti-Uduaghan’s lawyers confirmed receipt of the formal summons and pledged to prepare all “factual and statutory defences” available to the lawmaker during trial.
“At about 2:30pm on Friday, May 23, 2025, within the premises of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, we received the information filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, containing three counts alleging that our client, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of Kogi Central, made imputations she had reason to believe would harm the reputation of Senator Godswill Akpabio, President of the 10th Senate,” the statement read.
“We received the said information on her behalf through a letter of authority duly issued and filed in the court’s registry.
“The legal team will fully prepare and present all factual and statutory defences available to our client during the trial.”
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) will on Tuesday next week begin the take over of 4,794 properties in Abuja, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) headquarters, due to unpaid ground rent.
The PDP headquarters, currently under construction in Abuja’s Central Business District, is among the affected properties, having been revoked in March for several years of unpaid ground rent. The FCTA disclosed that 4,794 titles had been revoked for failure to pay ground rent, with some defaults dating back 43 years.
The affected properties are located in various districts, including Central Area, Garki I and II, Wuse I and II, Asokoro, Maitama, and Guzape.
The defaulters owe over N6.96 billion in ground rent. The FCTA had given a 21-day grace period for owners with debts under 10 years, which has now expired.
The FCTA officials announced that the takeover would begin on Monday, May 26, 2025, with the sealing off and restriction of access to the affected properties.
The Director of Land Administration, Chijioke Nwankwoeze emphasized that the revocations were carried out under Section 28(5)(a)(b) of the Land Use Act, which empowers the government to reclaim land when the terms of occupancy are violated.
Two people sustained serious injuries when a training aircraft crash-landed at the Ilorin International Airport on Friday.
Director of Public Affairs and Family Assistance, NSIB, Mrs Bimbo Oladeji, who disclosed this in a statement, said the incident occurred at 17:28 local time on May 23, 2025, during a simulated instrument approach on Runway 05 at Ilorin International Airport.
Oladeji said the aircraft veered off the runway and came to a stop on the grass verge, leaving the two occupants on board injured.
She stated: “Both sustained serious injuries and were swiftly evacuated to a medical facility, coordinated by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA.
“In response, the NSIB Go-Team is currently preparing to depart from Abuja to Ilorin to conduct on-site investigations. The team will secure the site, collect physical evidence, interview witnesses, and retrieve operational data to establish the cause and contributing factors of the incident.”
Quoting the Director General of the NSIB, Captain Alex Badeh Jr., she said “Our thoughts are with the injured, and we commend the swift medical and emergency response. Now, our focus is on understanding exactly what went wrong. Every investigation is an opportunity to improve safety. We are deploying our team to Ilorin to ensure that no detail is overlooked.”
-
News2 years agoBreaking: Tinubu’s authentic ministerial nominees
-
News2 years ago“Anytime we want to kill terrorists, President would ask us to take permission from France but they were killing our soldiers-” Niger Republic coup leader
-
News2 years ago“I’m leaving the Catholic church because Bishop Onah is oppressing me,” says Okunerere
-
News2 months agoSenate to speed up conclusion of Nigeria Forest Security Service Bill
-
News2 years agoDokpesi and the Gazebo Mystique
-
News2 years agoRadio Nigeria’s veteran broadcaster Kelvin Ugwu dies three months after retirement from service
-
News1 year agoPersons against Allagoa’s reforms behind protests at NSITF
-
News2 years agoTsunami: Tinubu orders dissolution of managements, boards of MDAs, to sack all Buhari’s political appointees