European Commission explains its mistake regarding allegedly 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed
The European Commission admitted the mistake regarding the figures of the losses of the Ukrainian military, which allegedly amounted to 100,000 people killed, as Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, announced on 30 November.
Source: Dana Spinant, Deputy Chief Spokesperson for the European Commission and Director for Political Communication, on Twitter, as cited by European Pravda.
Details: She noted that the previous version of von der Leyen's address contained "inaccurate" figures and thanked those who pointed out the mistake.
Spinant explained that the estimate voiced by von der Leyen had been taken from external sources and was supposed to refer to the losses in killed and wounded and "was intended to show the brutality of Russia".
Following von der Leyen’s statement on 30 November that "over 20,000 civilians and 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine," her address was edited and the mention of casualties was removed.
Many thanks to those who pointed out the inaccuracy regarding the figures in a previous version of this video.
— Dana Spinant (@DanaSpinant) November 30, 2022
The estimation used, from external sources, should have referred to casualties, i.e. both killed and injured, and was meant to show Russia‘s brutality. https://t.co/GesDe7bK8v
At the request of Ukrainska Pravda to comment on the assessment voiced by von der Leyen in the first version of her appeal, Bohdan Senyk, the head of the Public Relations Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, noted that the General Staff could not confirm this figure; he said the losses of the Ukrainian army were classified information and they fell under the disclosure restrictions.
He also emphasised on the inevitability of punishment for the aggressor country for the deaths and injuries suffered by Ukrainian citizens.
Background:
- Mark Milley, the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that over 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded during the war in Ukraine. At the same time, Milley stated that the same applies for the Ukrainian side.
