Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksei Reznikov apologized Monday for comparing the Ukrainian forces’ casualty figures to those of the February 6 earthquake in Turkey that claimed more than 50,000 lives.
»I sincerely apologize to anyone from Ukraine or Turkey who was offended by my statements in an interview with the Spanish newspaper ‘La Razon’,» Reznikov said in a message posted on Twitter.
Reznikov referred during the interview to the number of casualties on the Ukrainian side. »We have casualties, of course, because we are at war. But they are critically lower than the Russian ones. I can’t give you the figure, but I can assure you that the total number is lower than those killed by the earthquake in Turkey,» he said.
Reznikov has argued in his apology message that »we understand what it is like to bury thousands of innocent people, friends and neighbors. »I am grateful to our Turkish friends for their unwavering support and firm stance on Crimea since the Russian invasion began,» he has stressed.
Turkey has presented itself as a mediating country between Russia and Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022, although Ankara has supplied combat drones and armored vehicles to Kiev.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
