In an interview with British-based Sky News, Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov admitted that Russian forces in Ukraine since the Feb. 24 renewed invasion started of the country have suffered “significant losses of troops.”
He portrayed the retreat of invading Russian forces from northern Ukraine over the past week as a “goodwill” gesture during negotiations with Kyiv, whereas Ukrainian military and Western intelligence say the withdrawals took place because the battalion tactical groups were mostly rendered incapable of combat.
“It’s a huge tragedy for us,” he said via video link on April 8, regarding the combat losses.
NATO and Kyiv say Russia now is regrouping and focusing its military strength and means to conquer the remaining parts of the easternmost regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, parts of which Moscow forces occupied in 2014 when Kremlin despot Vladimir Putin first ordered an invasion of the neighboring country.
Then, Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula was also forcibly seized in an illegal annexation.
Kyiv says up to 19,000 Russian military personnel have been killed since the most recent invasion, including about a quarter to one-third of the hardware it is using to seize control over the the democratic, sovereign nation.
Western intelligence initially said that Russia would take over Kyiv in three days but Ukrainian forces have fought valiantly.
Putin is calling the invasion a “special operation” but visual evidence is appearing showing that civilians and non-military objects are being systemically targeted. Videos of mass killings have surfaced on social media platforms showing civilians executed in Kyiv’s northern suburbs, many of whom are blindfolded and with their legs and hands bound. Children are also among the victims as are widespread reports of sexual violence toward women.
Ukraine isn’t disclosing its casualty figures.
The military regional administration heads in the east – Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk – have urged citizens to flee the area in anticipation of a huge onslaught in the coming days.
Ukraine’s military intelligence says that Putin wants to seize the whole of Donbas before May 9 when Russia celebrates victory in Europe day during World War II. As the leading republic in the Soviet Union, Russia started the war in 1939 together with Germany by invading parts of Poland that encompass territories in modern-day Ukraine and Belarus.
The invasion has seen Russia accused of war crimes and even genocide by Kyiv and Western governments. The ongoing war has caused the worst humanitarian crisis on the European continent since WWII and displaced a quarter of Ukraine’s pre-war population of 40 million-44 million.
“Russian military forces have extrajudicially executed civilians in Ukraine in apparent war crimes, Amnesty International said on April 7.
