Zelensky: Around 1,300 Ukrainian troops killed since start of Russian invasion

KYIV, Ukraine — “Around 1,300″ Ukrainian troops have been killed since Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbor, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says on Saturday as Moscow’s forces closed in on the capital Kyiv.

Zelensky makes the disclosure at a media briefing, the first time Kyiv has given such a toll since the beginning of fighting. On March 2, Russia said it had lost nearly 500 soldiers, but has not updated the figure since.

Zelensky also says it will take Russia to carpet-bomb the Ukrainian capital and kill its residents to take the city.

He adds that “if that is their goal, let them come.”

Zelensky says that “if they carry out carpet bombings and wipe off the historic memory of the entire region, the history of Kyivan Rus, the history of Europe, they could enter Kyiv.”