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LONDON (dpa-AFX) – Six weeks after the start of its war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia is lamenting numerous deaths in its own ranks. “We have significant losses, this is a huge tragedy for us,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told British broadcaster Sky News on Thursday. “It is a very serious operation with serious consequences.”
Most recently, Russia had spoken of 1,351 soldiers killed. Ukraine estimates that nearly 19,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the war began on February 24. That is not verifiable. The Kremlin always speaks of a “special military operation,” and the word “war” in connection with Ukraine is taboo in Russia.
Peskov called the war a “tragedy”. However, he blamed the civilian casualties in the country exclusively on the Ukrainian forces. “Our military is doing its best to end this operation,” said the Kremlin spokesman. Russia hopes that “in the coming days” or in the near future, the military operation will achieve the goals set by President Vladimir Putin or that the negotiations with Ukraine will bring about a result. The success of the talks depends heavily on the extent to which Kyiv responds to Moscow’s demands, said Peskov.
In the negotiations with Ukraine, Moscow is demanding that Kyiv must accept the independence of the two eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and Russian sovereignty over the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. In addition, Russia is demanding “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine. Moscow claims that the government in Kyiv is run by “Nazis”. There is no evidence for that. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has Jewish roots.
Peskov claimed Russian troops were withdrawn from Ukraine’s Kyiv and Chernihiv regions to show “goodwill” during negotiations. Western secret services and military experts, on the other hand, see the withdrawal as a Russian defeat.
Referring to Mariupol, Peskov said the embattled southeastern Ukrainian port is part of the “People’s Republics” recognized by Moscow. “Mariupol will be liberated by nationalist battalions, hopefully sooner than later,” Peskov said. The Kremlin spokesman called war crimes allegedly committed by Russians in Mariupol, such as the attack on a maternity clinic, but also in the Kiev suburb of Bucha “fake”. The Kremlin has denied that Russia had anything to do with the atrocities, Peskov said. However, eyewitness accounts and satellite images suggest that Russian troops murdered hundreds of civilians in Bucha.
Peskov claimed that Ukrainian nationalists committed cruel crimes against the population. He claimed that civilians were being used as living shields. There are eyewitnesses to that. Russia has so far provided no evidence to support these claims.
Peskov warned that in the event of NATO expansion to include Finland and Sweden, Russia would have to “rebalance” the situation and protect its western flank more closely. However, he indirectly ruled out the use of nuclear weapons. Peskov denied the question of whether NATO expansion would pose an “existential threat” to Russia. Most recently, Russia had repeatedly emphasized that it would only use its nuclear arsenal if there was a “threat to its existence”.
Finland and Sweden are traditionally neutral states. Because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, however, approval for joining NATO is increasing in both countries./bvi/DP/zb