Zelenskyy says 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers have died since Russia invaded

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers have died since February 24.

According to The New York Times, Zelenskyy released the figure during a press briefing, marking the first time the Ukrainian government has released an estimate of military casualties. Zelenskyy called Russia's invasion a war of annihilation.

The United Nations said that 1,581 civilians had been killed and 1,002 injured in Ukraine. The UN said that 42 of the dead were children.

The UN said that most of the civilian casualties were caused by the use of explosives with a wide impact area.

The actual figures are much higher than the UN reported.

It is not clear how many casualties Russia has suffered. According to The Washington Post, Ukrainian authorities said this week that more than 12,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, though Russia has pegged the figure at just under 500.

According to the Russian state media outlet Tass, 2,870 Ukrainian troops have been killed. Insider's Julie Coleman reported that US officials have urged extreme skepticism towards Russia's casualty figures, and warned about the difficulty in independently verifying both military and civilian casualties in active war zones.