Russian President Vladimir Putin called the war in Ukraine a "tragedy" and said that he is prepared to conduct peace talks.
The official's remarks were made at a G20 virtual summit and included an acknowledgment that military actions are always a tragedy. Putin also claimed that Russia has never refused peace talks with Ukraine throughout the conflict.
Vladimir Putin Speaks at G20 Virtual Summit
Putin said that the invasion was necessary in order to overcome what he called a "coup." During the Russian president's brief speech at the virtual summit, there were only a handful of countries that tuned in to listen. These included Bangladesh, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore, Spain, and the host, India. China and the United States declined to attend the summit.
The remarks also come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country's troops face "difficult" defensive operations on parts of the eastern front. Images taken from the frontline in Donbas, as well as in the capital Kyiv, show that snow has already started to fall, as per the Independent.
Putin's remark comes as Estonia on Wednesday accused Russia of helping migrants travel to its border. Estonian Interior Minister Lauri Laanemets said that Moscow was involved in a "hybrid attack operation" that seeks to undermine security and unsettle the Baltic state's population.
Since Thursday, there have been a total of 75 migrants, primarily from Somalia and Syria, who have tried to enter Estonia from Russia. They tried to travel through the Narva crossing but none had asked for asylum and all were turned away.
The Baltic nation has made preparations to close its border crossings if "the migration pressure from Russia escalates." It is also preparing to deal with migrants if they attempt to enter outside official crossings.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which began in February 2022, has resulted in the death or injury of hundreds of thousands of people, including military troops and civilians. It also caused millions to be displaced and has devastated swathes of Ukraine's south and east, according to Reuters.
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The "Tragedy" of the War in Ukraine
In his latest remarks at the G20 virtual summit, Putin also used the word "war" which is different from what Moscow usually uses to describe the fighting in Ukraine, which is a "special military operation."
The main focal issue for Russia's invasion of its European counterpart is the alleged persecution of people in eastern Ukraine. The conflict in that region started in 2014 after a pro-Russian president was ousted in the country's Maidan Revolution and Russia annexed Crimea.
From 2014 to 2021, roughly 14,000 have lost their lives based on data from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, including 3,106 civilians. Putin said that the Russia-Ukraine war will shock many around the world. However, he also said that the Israel-Hamas war was having the same effect.
Putin called the plight of civilians in Gaza "an extermination" and said that it implied that the West was willing to overlook the aggression in that region. His remarks marked another example of a tactic that the Russian president and other top officials have resorted to in the last few years, which is to accuse the West of transgressions, said the New York Times.
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