There are hundreds of thousands of victims fighting in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Omissions

• The Italian term 'vittime' is ambiguous: in the context of the MEP's speech ('muoiono i figli del popolo' — 'the sons of the people die'), it most naturally refers to fatalities, which are indeed in the hundreds of thousands. However, the term could also be interpreted as total casualties (killed and wounded), in which case the real figure of 1.7–2.0 million far exceeds 'hundreds of thousands,' making the claim an understatement.
• Neither Russia nor Ukraine publishes comprehensive official military fatality figures; all available data comes from Western intelligence estimates, Ukrainian armed forces claims, and independent research organizations, which carry inherent uncertainty.
• Some sources (CSIS report, CNN, The Guardian) were published after the session date of 2026-06-16 and therefore could not have been known to the MEP at the time of the speech, though they cover data from the same period.

Sources

• SecondaryRussia Matters — The Russia-Ukraine War Report Card, April 22, 20261,200,000 Russian military casualties (killed, wounded and missing) with as many as 325,000 killed between February 2022 and December 2025.
• SecondaryRussia Matters — The Russia-Ukraine War Report Card, June 3, 2026500,000–600,000 Ukrainian military casualties, including killed, wounded and missing, and between 100,000 and 140,000 fatalities.
• SecondaryCSIS — Russian Blood and Treasure (via CNN, July 2, 2026)Russia has suffered 1.4 million casualties, including 450,000 fatalities; Ukraine estimated between 525,000 and 625,000 casualties, including 125,000 to 150,000 fatalities.