It is widely believed official Kiev is under-reporting its losses but even 2,500 is a big number, especially for a pointless and criminal war

IEV, July 28 (TASS) - About 2,300 Ukrainian servicemen have been killed in the military operation in eastern regions, spokesman for the Ukrainian Armed Forces Alexey Nozdrachev said on Tuesday.

"As of today, about 2,300 Ukrainian servicemen have been reported killed," he said, adding that as many as 273 more servicemen were reported missing.

On April 7, 2014, Ukraine’s then interim president Oleksandr Turchynov announced plans to launch an anti-terrorist operation in the country’s eastern regions that disagreed with the Kiev authorities’ policy.

By summer 2014, clashes between Ukrainian army and local militias grew into large-scale combat operations involving heavy weapons and warplanes.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), about 6,500 people have been killed in combat operations in eastern Ukraine.

More than two million people are refuges, of whom 1.3 million are internally displaced persons.