The ICRC in Ukraine did not make such statements. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Red Cross has received nearly 400,000 requests from Ukrainians and citizens of the invading country.
Russian media outlets are once again disseminating misleading information regarding Ukrainian casualties. Citing data from the International Committee of the Red Cross, propaganda outlets claimed that, according to ‘independent estimates’, the Ukrainian army has suffered losses amounting to ‘over a million people‘. At the same time, they again claimed that Russia ‘strikes military targets with surgical precision’ and that ‘civilian casualties in Ukraine are minimal’ — a claim that they say has been ‘confirmed’ by the Red Cross.
The International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine (ICRC) has not made any statements about losses sustained by the Ukrainian army — this information was fabricated by Russian media. On 31 May 2025, the ICRC published updated figures showing that, since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the committee had received around 400,000 phone calls, letters and personal visits concerning various issues, including from families looking for missing relatives or loved ones. The Red Cross also clarified that these requests came from both sides — both Ukrainian citizens and Russian occupiers.
Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence also emphasised that the Russian reports were disinformation. Andriy Yusov, the deputy head of the Coordination Headquarters on the Treatment of Prisoners of War, stated that ‘Ukraine knows the real numbers, and they are significantly lower. The ICRC has once again become a propaganda tool for the Russian murderers.’
While Russia is seeking to eradicate Ukrainian statehood and destroy the Ukrainian population, thereby blocking any genuine steps towards peace, Ukraine and its allies are striving for sustainable peace based on democratic principles. At the same time, Ukraine is not hiding the catastrophic consequences of Russia’s war and acknowledges that it is suffering irreparable losses — both military personnel and civilians are dying as a result of Russia’s bloody aggression.
In an interview with NBC published on 16 February 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed on the battlefield since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022. He also said that 380,000 Ukrainians had been wounded in combat.
However, Russian military losses are significantly higher. According to the General Staff of Ukraine, as of 3 June 2025, Russia had lost 990,800 servicemen since the start of the full-scale invasion. This estimate is broadly in line with those of Western intelligence services.
Russia’s claims that there have been no civilian casualties in Ukraine have been disproven by facts documented not only by Ukraine, but also by the international community. Russia is waging war against Ukraine’s civilian population, killing the elderly, women and children. According to the latest data from the United Nations (as of April 2025), over 13,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war. Another 32,000 have been injured. The actual number of victims is much higher, as Russia’s occupation of part of Ukraine makes it impossible to determine the full scale of the tragedy. The exact number of civilians taken prisoner, missing, or forcibly deported to Russia is also unknown.
Additionally, Ukraine has confirmed the deportation of 19,546 children by Russia. However, the true figure is probably much higher, as Russia frequently targets vulnerable children who have no one to speak on their behalf. As of 19 March 2025, Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab estimated that nearly 35,000 children had been deported.
Read more on this topic in StopFake’s articles: Fake: Russia ‘Protects’ Ukrainian Children and Fake: Ukraine Confirms Russia’s ‘Precise’ Strikes ‘Exclusively’ Targeted Military Facilities.
