Around 9,000 Ukrainian heroes got killed in the war against Russia, Commander-in-Chief Gen Valeriy Zaluzhnyy has said at the forum "Defenders. Roll Call".
"Not only soldiers and not only those who took up arms are involved in this war - our little children, who are not guilty of anything, except the fact that they were born here and at this very time. They really do not understand at all what is going on, but they definitely need protection both at Soledar, Bakhmut, Velyka Novoselka and here, because their father went to the front and is probably among those nearly 9,000 heroes who died," he said.
The number of Ukrainian civilians killed by the Russians is conclusively unknown: casualties are difficult to count as the enemy burns bodies and arranges mass graves in the occupied territories. As of mid-June, the UN reported 4,509 Ukrainian civilians killed.