The Russian government on Tuesday accused the United States and «its allies» of «trying to prolong as long as possible» the war in Ukraine, while stressing that its forces continue to «pulverize» all weapons that have been supplied to Kiev.
«The United States and its allies are trying to prolong the conflict as much as possible. To this end, they have started to deliver heavy offensive weaponry, openly asking Ukraine to seize our territories,» denounced Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Thus, he stressed that «the Russian troops continue to pulverize all the weapons and equipment delivered to Kiev, both on the routes for their delivery and in combat positions», before putting the number of Ukrainian military personnel killed during the fighting in January at more than 6,500.
Shoigu said that «despite an unprecedented delivery of military aid by Western countries, the enemy is suffering significant losses,» including 26 aircraft, seven helicopters, 341 tanks and 208 drones during the fighting in the first month of 2023.
«Realizing that it will not be possible to defeat Russia through military means, the Ukrainian leadership continues to resort to criminal actions to intimidate citizens into Russia’s new entities,» he noted, referring to the September annexation of the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporiyia regions, partially occupied as part of the invasion.
In this sense, he denounced that «the Armed Forces of Ukraine attack residential areas, hospitals, places of gathering of the civilian population» and added that «they commit terrorist acts against public facilities», as reported by the Russian news agency TASS.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
