Eight Ukrainian soldiers killed, 42 wounded in Donbas in May

Eight Ukrainian servicemen were killed and another 42 soldiers were wounded and injured in military operations in eastern Ukraine in May 2019.

This is stated in the response to the inquiry of the Radio Liberty, which was prepared by Major-General Ihor Tantsiura, the Chief of the Joint Forces Operation Headquarters and First Deputy Commander of the Joint Forces.

"The number of wounded and killed Ukrainian soldiers in May 2019: 42 wounded and injured as a result of military operations, 19 soldiers who sustained combat traumas and 8 servicemen killed," the document reads.

At the same time, the report does not specify whether a total number of casualties is indicated, including the servicemen who died from their wounds later, or it refers only to those killed directly on the battlefield or immediately after the shelling, the information about which is given in the daily reports of the press center of the Joint Forces Operation Headquarters.

It is also unclear whether the report includes the losses sustained by all Ukrainian security agencies or by the Armed Forces only.

According to the UN estimates as of December 31, 2018, from 12,800 to 13,000 people have been killed, including 3,320 civilians, 4,000 Ukrainian defenders and 5,500 representatives of Russian hybrid armed formations, as a result of the Russian hybrid aggression in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.

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