What is the death toll in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Here are the updated numbers

This story is up to date with the latest available numbers as of 4 p.m. ET Wednesday.

Thousands of people are believed to have been killed as Russia’s invasion into Ukraine nears its second week on Wednesday, March 2, with strikes intensifying in several Ukrainian cities.

Here are the latest figures on casualties from the crisis in Ukraine, updated at 7:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

The Ukraine State Emergency Service said early Wednesday morning more than 2,000 Ukrainians have been killed in the war. It’s unclear how many military members had been killed.

“Today, the main efforts of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine are directed to the rescue of people,” they said. “We managed to save more than 150 lives by eliminating over 400 fires after enemy shelling, evacuating over 500 people. Pyrotechnics damaged 416 explosive objects.”

Ukrainian officials said Sunday that 16 children were killed by Russian forces. An additional 1,684 people, including 116 children, had been injured, CNN reported.

Ukrainian officials said early Tuesday that 70 of its soldiers were killed in an attack in Okhtyrka, a small city about 70 miles west of Kharkiv.

And in Kharkiv, three children were among the fatal casualties when Russian forces launched rocket launchers on Ukraine’s second-largest city, officials said Monday afternoon. In total, nine civilians were killed in the attack and 37 people injured.

“It is not just a war. It is a murder of the Ukrainian people,” Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

On Tuesday, five people were killed when a TV tower in Kyiv was bombed, officials said. The casualties in the attack are believed to be of a family.

Four more people died in strikes Wednesday in Kharkiv, The Associated Press reported.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy referred to the attack as “undisguised terror,” the AP said.

Fighting also raged on in the city of Mariupol, where officials said 128 people were being treated at hospitals.

Vadym Boychenko, the mayor of the southern Ukrainian city, said Wednesday the number of wounded civilians “is growing every day,” CNN reported.

U.N. officials believe the death totals in Ukraine are “considerably higher” than what has been stated, according to Reuters.

A true death toll may be difficult to determine this early in the crisis, Mirella Hodeib, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kyiv, told The Washington Post.

“It’s an incredibly worrying situation. We don’t have any idea of the full scale of the consequences right now,” Hodeib said. “Only that they’re rising exponentially.” On Friday, Feb. 25, Zelenskyy said in a video address that 137 people had been killed and 300 injured in the first 24 hours of the attack.

“The real fighting for Kyiv is ongoing,” Zelenskyy said in a video message Saturday, according to an Associated Press translation. “We will win.”

Zelenskyy has remained in the Ukrainian capital during the invasion, turning down an offer from the U.S. to help him evacuate, CNN reported.

“The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” he reportedly said

Russian officials have not released casualty numbers, but Ukraine’s interior ministry said Wednesday morning that 5,840 Russians had been killed. That figure has not been confirmed.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in an interview with Sky News that 450 Russian military personnel were killed in the first 24 hours of the invasion.

Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine on three fronts early Thursday, Feb. 24, “bombarding cities, towns and villages” as forces advanced toward the capital of Kyiv.

Bridges, schools and neighborhoods have been struck with air and missile strikes by Russian troops, despite the country’s officials claiming Russia would only aim at military targets, The Associated Press reported.

“Whoever tries to impede us, let alone create threats for our country and its people, must know that the Russian response will be immediate and lead to the consequences you have never seen in history,” Putin said Feb. 24, BBC News reported.

Russia’s advances continued Sunday on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, after previous attacks on airfields and fuel facilities, as well as its second largest city, Kharkiv, according to The Associated Press.

“The past night was tough – more shelling, more bombing of residential areas and civilian infrastructure,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, the AP reported. “There is not a single facility in the country that the occupiers wouldn’t consider as admissible targets.”

In negotiations Monday between delegates of the two countries, Ukrainian officials demanded an immediate ceasefire and asked for the withdrawal of Russian troops, but Russian delegates refused, CBS News reported.

Zelenskyy called the Tuesday attack on Kharkiv’s main square “frank, undisguised terror,” The AP reported.

“Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget. ... This is state terrorism of the Russian Federation,” he said in referring to the attack as a war crime.

Ukraine, the second-largest nation in Europe by land mass, was part of the former USSR until it declared independence in 1991. It is not a NATO member.

This story was originally published February 26, 2022 at 8:07 AM with the headline "What is the death toll in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Here are the updated numbers."