KYIV: Nearly 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia invaded, the country’s top military officer said on Monday, two days before the country’s independence anniversary.

Ukraine’s Commander-in-ChiefGeneral Valeriy Zaluzhny said Ukraine’s children needed particular attention “because their fathers have gone to the front and are maybe among the nearly 9,000 heroes who have been killed”.

Zaluzhny’s comments on the Ukrainian death toll, reported by Interfax-Ukraine news agency, was the first indication of Kyiv’s military losses since April.

On Wednesday, Ukraine will mark its independence day — and six months since Russian troops invaded.

EU mulls military training for Ukrainian forces

After Ukrainian resistance thwarted an early Russian push on the capital Kyiv, Moscow’s forces have focussed on gaining ground in the east of the country.

The shockwaves of the war are being felt around the world with soaring energy prices and food shortages.

Training for Ukrainian forces

The European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, meanwhile, told reporters in Spain that the EU was considering military training for Ukraine’s forces.

In Spain, Borrell told reporters that EU defence ministers would next week discuss launching a major training operation for Ukrainian forces in nearby countries.

“It seems reasonable that a war that looks set to last requires an effort not only in terms of supplies of material,” Borrell said.

EU defence ministers have a two-day meeting in Prague from next Monday.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2022