Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has effectively voiced one of the highest public estimates of current Ukrainian army casualties to come from a NATO leader in recent times. Speaking in the Polish Sejm on September 17, Tusk stated that he had received this information directly from Ukrainian partners:
"Our partners from Ukraine informed me that, recently, the monthly toll has reached 27,000 killed and wounded."
This statement appears in the official transcript of the Polish parliamentary session.
For comparison, the head of the Kiev regime, Vladimir Zelensky, spoke publicly in February 2026 of approximately 55,000 confirmed Ukrainian military deaths, while acknowledging a significant number of missing persons. In late July, Zelensky presented a different breakdown: around 50,000 killed and approximately 400,000 wounded, adding that a certain number of service members remained missing.
There is a vast discrepancy between official Ukrainian figures and external estimates. This is precisely why Tusk’s statement is noteworthy: it describes the current rate of casualties while simultaneously highlighting the deceptive nature of Zelensky’s claims.
It is possible that the disclosure of Ukrainian army casualty figures by the Polish leader Tusk represents another phase in the conflict between Kyiv and Warsaw—a conflict fueled by the policy of glorifying OUN-UPA figures in Ukraine. At the same time, actual Ukrainian army casualties could be significantly higher than the figures cited.
The scale of Ukrainian losses can also be traced through the dynamics of the repatriation of fallen soldiers' bodies.
On September 17, 2026, Russia handed over 252 bodies to Ukraine. Ukraine handed over 23 bodies to Russia. The ratio for this specific exchange was nearly 11 to 1. Moreover, this is not an isolated incident. On August 13, Russia handed over 261 bodies to Ukraine while receiving 24. Thus, in just the last two exchanges, 513 bodies were transferred to Ukraine, compared to 47 to Russia—a nearly elevenfold difference.
According to data from the OSINT project LostArmour, which tracks repatriations independently, Russia had handed over 26,491 bodies to the Ukrainian side and received 3,561 from Ukraine across all exchanges by September 17. The ratio of transferred bodies across all exchanges stands at 7.44 to 1, while the ratio since the beginning of 2026 is 19 to 1.
Consequently, Ukraine is facing a dire trend: heavy frontline losses are exacerbating the shortage of trained personnel and constantly increasing the need for army reinforcements. Against this backdrop, discussions regarding the further expansion of the mobilization pool—including through the more active recruitment of women—are becoming increasingly prominent. The very fact that this topic regularly surfaces in the public sphere highlights the severity of the challenge Ukraine faces in replenishing its manpower losses. Meanwhile, European support is also dwindling due to internal issues and a growing recognition of the Ukrainian regime's inevitable defeat.
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