Between 60 and 100 Ukrainian soldiers are dying on the battlefield every day, and another 500 wounded, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky told US newsgroup Newsmax in an interview released Wednesday.

“The situation in the east is very difficult,” Zelensky told Newsmax.

“We are losing 60 to 100 soldiers per day, killed in action, and around 500 people wounded in action,” said the 44-year-old leader, speaking through an interpreter.

The high level of losses comes as Ukrainian troops try to block a powerful Russian concentration of forces that are seeking to take full control of the easternmost Lugansk Region.

Russian forces are reportedly close to seizing control of the city of Severodonetsk, after a lengthy siege involving intense artillery and aerial bombardment.

“We are holding our defensive perimeters” in the east, Zelensky said.

Indications from the battlefield suggest Russians have also experienced significant losses.

The Ukrainian government estimated last week that the Russians have lost more than 30,000 soldiers since beginning their invasion on February 24.