The estimated daily losses of the military at the front announced by the Ukrainian authorities should outline the "depth of the problem." Thus, the adviser to the head of the Presidentʼs Office Mykhailo Podoliak reacted to the accusations of the Secretary of the Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov regarding unreliable information and explained the words of some politicians.
He spoke about this in an interview with Babel.
"We are trying to determine the depth of the problem. The figures may vary slightly, but in general, the president indicated an approximate amount of losses, including sanitary — the wounded and disabled. It is just that the time has come for us to look at the war more objectively. We are just entering a more objective picture of the coverage of the war. For the first 1.5 or 2 months, the type of war was different. And the mobilization of society in our country and our partner countries was different," Podoliak said.
He stressed that on the one hand, Ukraineʼs partners and its people have become tired of the war, so it is necessary to have an idea of its price.
"Itʼs difficult for us. It is always difficult to determine the price. But we will not be able to go further if we are not objective in the picture we have during the war," Podoliak explained.
Asked about Danilovʼs reaction, who said that the losses of the Armed Forces should be announced by representatives of the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense, the adviser said: "I honestly do not quite understand why people say all this. There is the mathematics of war, and there is a certain circle of people, speakers of the state, who have the right to specify certain parameters and figures. I am not even ready to comment on this [Danilovʼs statement]. Because I think that this person is probably running his own information campaign. I donʼt know why he does it. "
Podoliak also considers the announcement of approximate losses as a mechanism of influencing the Western partners in order to achieve a greater supply of the necessary weapons.
"Another question, in my opinion, is that it sets a certain corridor of the negotiation process. You know what the problem is — we voiced the request for a certain amount during the war, which was the first 2 months. Now the Russians have collected much more equipment than in the first days. In the early days, there were many armored vehicles. And now a lot of artillery. Collected in certain places and directions. Therefore, it is a question of changing priorities within the war, a dialogue corridor in communication with our partners," he said.
- On June 1, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the Ukrainian army in Donbas was losing 60 to 100 people every day. Up to 500 servicemen are wounded. The same figure was announced by the Minister of Defense.
- On June 10, Podoliak stated that up to 200 Ukrainian defenders were killed at the front every day. Later, the head of the Ukrainian delegation at the talks with Russia, David Arakhamia, announced the daily losses of 200-500 fighters.
- On June 18, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov said that officials who spoke about the number of victims at the front did not have access to such information. "It simply came to our notice then. This is not a skittles or a circus. This is peopleʼs lives," he said.