Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov acknowledged on Thursday that Russia has suffered "significant losses" among its military troops deployed in Ukraine amid the war, calling it a "huge tragedy."
However, the Russian official still denied that the country's invasion of Ukraine had become a humiliation for the Kremlin due to fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces. On Mar. 25, Moscow released a statement announcing that more than 1,000 of its military troops have lost their lives in the war.
Russian Military Casualties
Since the start of Russia's unprovoked invasion, roughly 4.25 million Ukrainians have fled their home country in fear of their lives. Additionally, 7.1 million others were believed to be internally displaced within the nation, said the United Nations on Tuesday.
Many residents in Ukraine braced for further Russian bombardments, specifically in the east and south as air raid sirens rang out overnight. Authorities are still investigating the brutal killings of civilians in Bucha that were discovered after Russian troops fled the area, as per the Daily Sabah.
Furthermore, Peskov said that Russian authorities were hoping that its military operation in Ukraine would reach its goals in the "coming days." The spokesman said in an interview that the world was living in days of "fakes and lies," and argued that verified photos and satellite images of dead civilians in the streets of Bucha were "bold fake."
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Peskov said that Moscow denied the Russian military was responsible for the atrocities in the city's numerous dead bodies scattered in the streets. He insisted that the whole situation in Bucha, where images showed dead Ukrainian civilians, was a "well-staged insinuation, nothing else."
According to Sky News, the spokesman was asked how many civilians have lost their lives since the war began on Feb. 24. However, Peskov refused to answer the question as he said that the numbers were not "double confirmed."
Invasion of Ukraine
Peskov's remarks are a rare acknowledgment by Russian authorities regarding the difficulties that Moscow has faced amid its invasion of Ukraine. They have not provided many updates regarding their troops' casualties, with previously released figures being considerably lower than estimates from both Ukraine and NATO.
The interview with the Kremlin spokesman came after Russian troops left the Ukrainian regions of Chernihiv and Kyiv as they were unable to quickly take control of the capital as officials initially hoped. Peskov said that the retreat was an act of "goodwill" toward Ukraine to leave the two regions.
The official said that the fleeing of Russian troops was an attempt to lift tension in the two areas and show that Russia was prepared to create comfortable conditions to continue peace negotiations. However, United States officials are skeptical about Moscow's decision to withdraw troops.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said last week that the U.S. government believes that move was a "repositioning" and not a real withdrawal. Peskov also said that the Russian government had "very serious reasons to believe" that the bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol was "fake" despite multiple reports and photographs of the destroyed structure, Yahoo News reported.
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