Ukraine is losing between 100 and 200 fighters per day, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the BBC.
Mykhaylo Podolyak said that the country needs hundreds of additional artillery systems from western allies to level the playing field against Russia in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
"The Russian forces have thrown pretty much everything non-nuclear at the front and that includes heavy artillery, multiple rocket launch systems and aviation," he said.
"Our demands for artillery are not just some kind of whim... but an objective need when it comes to the situation on the battlefield," he said, adding that Ukraine needs 150 to 300 rocket launch systems to match Russia.
Higher than previous estimates:
Podolyak’s estimate is higher than previous estimates. The country’s defense minister previously said that the country was losing about 100 soldiers per day.
The rising death toll underscores Ukrainian losses in the battle for the Donbas.
"The Kremlin continues to press by sheer mass, stumbles, faces strong rebuffs and suffers huge casualties," said Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov. "But yet still has forces to advance in some parts of the front."
Zelensky said on Wednesday that the “fate of the Donbas is being decided” in the city of Severodonetsk.
Russia violates treaties:
Zelensky said Friday that Russia had violated about 400 international treaties since it illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.
“Only during Russia’s war against Ukraine, and I want to remind you that it started in 2014, not on Feb. 24, Russia has violated about 400 different international treaties to which our countries are parties,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky also appealed to leaders that Ukraine not be “left in a gray zone” in relation to its membership in the EU.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace met with Zelensky this week and vowed to “work even more closely” with Ukraine “as the conflict enters a different phrase.”
