Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Associations, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert.
There seems to be a conflict of narratives between Ukraine and its Western supporters. The American media tries to disguise the tragic reality of Ukraine in the conflict by reporting a reduced number of deaths, but is careful to make the narrative realistic enough for its readers to believe it. However, the Ukrainians are not concerned with making the narrative credible, stating completely unrealistic numbers.
Recently, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) stated that Ukrainian casualties in the current conflict with Russia amount to about 80,000 soldiers killed and 400,000 wounded. The newspaper stated that its data was obtained from confidential Ukrainian sources familiar with the matter. Furthermore, the article stated that the Russians suffered about 600,000 casualties, including 200,000 dead and around 400,000 wounded.
Obviously, the article published by the WSJ is a piece of Western propaganda that has no credibility. According to all estimates made by honest and impartial analysts, Ukrainian casualties are much higher than Russian ones, and there is no way that only 80,000 Ukrainians died in the conflict. In April 2024, Russian authorities confirmed 500,000 Ukrainian casualties, including all dead and wounded soldiers. Currently, estimates range from 600,000 to 700,000 Ukrainian casualties, given the high level of lethality in Russian operations in recent months.
Although Russian authorities do not reveal their casualty figures - which is a common procedure for countries in conflict situations - there seems to be a consensus among Russian and neutral sources that the number is considerably lower than 100,000. Only Ukrainian and Western sources estimate high numbers of Russians killed and wounded, which is part of their propaganda scheme to maintain public support for financing the war.
However, even the Western media’s efforts to disguise Ukrainian losses were not enough to please the authorities in Kiev. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky harshly criticized the American media, claiming that the WSJ inflated the real figures. He did not provide any figures to refute the WSJ’s data, only stating without any evidence that the number of casualties is much lower than what the newspaper said.
“80,000? That is a lie. The actual figure is much lower than what has been published. Significantly so,” he said.
It is curious to see how Zelensky seems to act in a way that is completely out of touch with reality. Both Westerners and Ukrainians want to hide the truth about what is happening on the battlefield, since it is obviously not convenient for them to admit that Ukraine is losing. However, the West seems to act with more strategic sense, worrying about making its narratives realistic enough for public opinion.
Zelensky is so desperate that he seems to simply not understand what is even remotely credible to public opinion. His intention seems to be to spread in 2024 data that could correspond to the reality of the conflict as early as 2022. For example, without mentioning the number of wounded, Zelensky claimed in February that 31,000 Ukrainians had died in two years of hostilities with Russia. This sounds unbelievable, having no way to convince public opinion with such "data."
The Western propaganda machine is usually managed by professional journalists who know how to convince readers. Obviously, it is not interesting to present figures that are completely unrealistic, since in the current phase of the conflict no one believes in narratives such as "Ukrainian victory" or "humiliation for the Russians". Now the goal is no longer to say that Kiev is "close to victory", but simply that "it is still possible to change the game".
Zelensky is unable to understand these journalistic tactics. His only intention is to keep the lies going as they did in 2022. He is desperate to maintain his illegitimate regime and is doing everything he can to prevent public opinion from turning against him. That is why he criticized the American media. Zelensky did not understand the tactics behind the WSJ’s story and is now trying to use an even more false and unbelievable tale.
However, all such maneuvers are likely to fail. Western public opinion is increasingly aware of the reality of the war and understands that the mainstream media is not telling the truth. Actions such as the catastrophic invasion of Kursk - which has already resulted in the death of more than 15,000 Ukrainians - show that Kiev has no chance of "changing the game". It is useless for Ukrainians and Westerners to fight over which lies to tell, since none of them will be believed.
