Ukraine admitted on Monday that it has lost about 9,000 troops since the start of the Russian invasion six months ago in a conflict that shows no sign of ending.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine ended with six months of heavy casualties – Photo: Aris Messinis/AFP/ND

“About 9,000 heroes died,” General Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, said during a public demonstration.

Zaluzhny added that there are Ukrainian children who need special attention because their parents went to the front and “probably were among the 9,000 dead heroes.”

The statement of the commander-in-chief of the army is the first since April about the military losses of Kyiv.

On Wednesday, Ukraine will celebrate its independence day, which this year coincides with six months of Russian invasion.

“I think we are facing a large-scale war,” European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell said during a press conference in northern Spain, where he announced that the EU would discuss the creation of a large “teaching aid organization » for the Ukrainian army.

– Win some time? –

Having failed in its attempt to take Kyiv, Moscow has focused its offensive on the southern and eastern regions of the country, where it is trying to control the entire Donbass, which has been partly occupied by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.

An adviser to the Ukrainian president told AFP that Russia was trying to convince Kyiv to start new talks to buy time to regroup.

For weeks, the Kremlin has been “trying to convince Ukraine to start negotiations,” Mykhailo Podolyak told AFP.

The presidential adviser suggested that this was a ploy to “freeze the conflict while maintaining the status quo in the occupied Ukrainian territories.”

Podolyak said that Kyiv believes that what Moscow really wants is not serious peace talks, but a “pause operation for its army” before a new offensive.

Two days after the six-month anniversary of the invasion, the Russian security service (FSB) accused Ukraine of being responsible for the death of Darya Dugin, the daughter of philosopher Alexander Dugin, who is considered close to the Kremlin, after her car. exploded on Saturday near Moscow.

The “murder” of Darya Dugina was “prepared and committed by the Ukrainian special services,” the FSB said, citing Russian news agencies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called Dugina’s death a “heinous crime” in a message of condolences released by the Kremlin on Monday.

Oleksandr Dugin is an ultra-nationalist intellectual and writer who strongly supports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as does his daughter.

According to the FSB, the person who planted the explosive device in the car was a Ukrainian woman who allegedly fled to Estonia after the explosion.

“Ukraine has absolutely nothing to do with the explosion,” the Ukrainian president said Sunday.

– Anniversary of Independence –

This accusation against Kyiv threatens to further increase tensions between the two countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia could be cooking up something particularly “cruel” this week.

On Sunday, Zelensky specified that Russia could take a provocative step and bring to justice the Ukrainian soldiers detained during the attack on Mariupol in the south of the country.

“If this vile judgment is carried out […] this will be the line from which negotiations will be impossible,” Zelensky said in a message broadcast at night.

In turn, Azov Battalion soldiers captured by Russian forces after the battles for Mariupol and released as part of an exchange said they were tortured while in Russian custody. One former prisoner said he witnessed “serious” cases of torture.

In addition, an adviser to the President of Ukraine warned that Russia could intensify the bombing on August 23 and 24.

Faced with this possibility, the authorities banned public demonstrations from 22 to 25 August in Kyiv and Kharkov, the country’s second largest city.

Meanwhile, the invasion of Ukraine has turned the global energy market on its head, and the conflict is already having repercussions in the form of rising energy prices and food shortages.

With the prospect of falling thermometers, Europeans are bracing for a harsh winter due to gas shortages in Russia.

On Monday, Bulgaria said it was trying to negotiate with Russian giant Gazprom. The country is almost entirely dependent on Russia for its annual consumption of 3 billion cubic meters of natural gas.