Ukrainian soldiers vowed to continue fighting yesterday, after Donald Trump reneged on his pledge to end the war with Russia “within 24 hours” of taking office.
Trump repeated his campaign pledge, but his aides have now acknowledged that it will take months to end the conflict between Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin.
Trump claims to have a working relationship with the ruthless Putin, whom he plans to meet “very quickly” after he moves to the Oval Office.
His 24-hour pledge was his biggest foreign policy promise, but it evaporated yesterday amid the pomp of his second inauguration in Washington.
Military officer Vitaly, 48, said: “Everyone knows that you can only believe half of what Trump says, but we hope he can speed up the peace talks.”
“Ukraine still has to give up its territory, but for now we have to continue the struggle to preserve as much of our territory as possible.”
Ukraine claimed that 150,000 Russians were killed last year, more than in 2022 and 2023 combined.
Ukrainian General Oleksandr Sersky said yesterday that the total military losses incurred by the Kremlin since the beginning of the war 35 months ago reached a staggering figure of 434,000 soldiers.
Sersky said: “The total losses, according to our estimates, are more than 434,000 individuals, of whom nearly 150,000 were killed in one year… in 2024.”
He added: “In this year of hostilities, they lost more than in the previous two years of the war.”
Russia disputes these numbers.
2