Ukraine probably knows what the death toll on its side is, far more than Russia. There’s no point in them advertising the numbers though.
Russia said all the way through the 14-19 period that it wasn’t keeping its own count of casualties in Ukraine (because officially “we’re not there”; it relied entirely on the OCSE, UN, Ukrainian and DPR figures - until those figures, even when in complete alignment to each other, didn’t fit the Kremlin narrative..
For example, here’s the DNR’s last monthly report from the region, before the Special Military Operation.
Notice how this is an outfit based out of the FSB office building in Donetsk, and it totally contradicts the accusation by the DPR that the Ukraine was still committing ongoing genocide. It posted confirmed casualty numbers from the conflict in that calendar month as low enough to fit on the fingers of a hand that’s had some digits chopped off. And couldn’t find a number higher than 0 for civilian casualties.
So we know that the Feb 22 accusations from the DPR, and repeated by Putin prior to the invasion, were literally made up on the spot. Not one credible source remotely backed those accusations up. Heck, not even the FSB could back those accusations.
It does beg the question why, if these numbers completely contradict Kremlin propaganda, why the site is still live. It exists at the pleasure of the Russian state. At some point, I suspect, Putin or his successors will hang the DPR out to dry and nail them for “lying” to the Kremlin.
Any casualty figures cited by Russia since that tend to align to Ukrainian or other observers’ counts do so only because Russia didn’t bother to count, and used someone elses’ numbers. We know for example that in the first six months, Russia was leaving its own dead on the battlefield or shipping them up to a temporary Boot Hill in Belarus; Ukraine collected the bodies, IDs, and contacted their families in Russia. (Russia complained about this being propaganda).
Russia has made it clear through the public statements of several Duma deputies, military commanders and anchors on Rossyia 1 that they wouldn’t be surprised if the casualties on the Ukraine side end up north of 2 million before the end of hostilities. One Rossyia1 programme discussing the “what to do with Ukraine” publication in a Kremlin-approved Moscow newspaper settled on a casualty range of between 5 and 15 percent of the entire population of Ukraine EVEN IF Ukraine surrendered entirely to a Putin-backed regime change. (For those who want to do the math on that, 5% of 44 million is 2.2 million; 15% is 6.6 million).
When your nation’s enemy is consistently pitching a level of casualties comparable to the number of Jews killed or injured during the Holocaust, you really aren’t going to be put off by them telling you they’ve only killed 220,000 so far. That’s why Ukraine doesn’t post its casualty numbers - even if they did, it wouldn’t make any difference to the existential nature of their fight against Russia.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - when Russia can confidently talk about having already inflicted 1.1 million casualties on the Ukraine side, and Ukraine’s own numbers confirm it, THAT might be when Ukraine starts thinking seriously about capitulation - but they’ll make darned sure the Russians will have to pay a very high price to take it that far.
If Ukraine capitulates, then the Russians will begin their announced program to “eliminate” all Ukrainians. Which is why Ukraine will never capitulate - its suicide.