Ukraine admitted on Monday that it has lost nearly 9,000 soldiers since the start of the Russian invasion six months ago, a conflict that shows no signs of ending.
“About 9,000 heroes died,” General Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, said during a public demonstration.
Zaluzhny added that there are Ukrainian children who need special attention, as their parents went to the front and were “probably among the 9 thousand heroes who died.”
The statement by the chief of staff was the first about the military losses suffered by Kiev since April.
On Wednesday, Ukraine will celebrate its independence day, which this year coincides with six months of Russian occupation.
“I think we are facing a major war,” said Josep Borrell, the European Union’s (EU) High Representative for Foreign Policy, at a press conference in northern Spain, where he announced that the EU will discuss the creation of an EU. A large “training and aid organization” for the Ukrainian army.
– To save time? –
After a failed attempt to take Kiev, Moscow focused its attack on the southern and eastern regions of the country, where it sought to control all of Donbass, which has been partially occupied by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
A Ukrainian presidential adviser told AFP that Russia is trying to persuade Kiev to start new negotiations to buy time to regroup.
Mikhailo Podoliak told AFP that the Kremlin has been “trying to persuade Ukraine to start negotiations” for weeks.
The presidential adviser suggested that this was a ploy to “freeze the conflict while preserving the status quo in occupied Ukrainian territory”.
Podoliak said that Kiev believes Moscow does not really want serious peace talks, but wants a “stopping operation for its army” before a new offensive.
Two days after the six-month anniversary of the invasion, the Russian security service (FSB) blamed Ukraine for the death of Daria Dugina, the daughter of philosopher Alexander Dugin, believed to be close to the Kremlin, after her car was driven. It exploded from Moscow in the vicinity on Saturday.
The “assassination” of Daria Dugina was “prepared and perpetrated by the Ukrainian special services,” the FSB said, as quoted by Russian news agencies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described Dugina’s death as a “despicable crime” in a message of condolence released by the Kremlin on Monday.
Alexander Dugin is an ultranationalist intellectual and writer who, like his daughter, strongly supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to the FSB, the person who planted the explosive in the car is a Ukrainian woman who allegedly fled to Estonia after the bombing.
“Ukraine has absolutely nothing to do with the explosion,” the Ukrainian presidency said on Sunday.
– Independence anniversary –
This accusation against Kiev threatens to further increase tensions between the two countries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia could prepare something particularly “brutal” this week.
On Sunday, Zelensky detailed that Russia could take a provocative step to prosecute Ukrainian soldiers detained during the attack on Mariupol in the south of the country.
“If this vile judgment comes true […] It will be the line where negotiation will not be possible,” Zelensky said in an overnight message.
On the other hand, the soldiers of the Azov battalion, who were captured by the Russian forces after the battle of Mariupol and released as part of the prisoner exchange, declared that they were tortured while in Russian custody. A former prisoner said he witnessed “serious” cases of torture.
In addition, the Ukrainian presidential adviser warned that Russia could intensify its bombings on 23 and 24 August.
Faced with this prospect, authorities banned public demonstrations in Kyiv and Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, from August 22-25.
Meanwhile, the invasion of Ukraine has upset the global energy market, and the conflict is already resulting in rising energy prices and food shortages.
Given the possibility of thermometers falling, Europeans are preparing for a harsh winter amid Russia’s gas shortages.
On Monday, Bulgaria said it was trying to negotiate with Russian giant Gazprom. The country is almost entirely dependent on Russia for its annual gas consumption of 3 billion cubic meters.
source: Noticias
