First Published Apr 9, 2022, 1:53 PM IST
RFollowing the withdrawal of the Chinese army from Ukraine, pictures of the atrocities committed by the Russian army in Ukraine were released. Ukraine has finally released information on the bodies of 7,000 Russian soldiers who have no one to claim from their frozen mortuaries. Ukraine claims that 19,000 Russian soldiers were killed during the Ukrainian occupation. Oleksi Arrestovich, an adviser to the head of Ukraine’s Presidential Administration, told the Washington Post that the Russian government had not yet offered to return the bodies, despite efforts to return them. Russia suffered heavy military losses in the early days of the war. Ukraine has claimed 3,000 Russian soldiers in its first days. But Russia has not agreed to any of this. However, Oleksi Arrestovich added that he did not believe their damage was too great.
Russia still claims to have lost only 1351 troops in the forty – five – day war. Russia has not yet commented on what it has lost in its military action against Ukraine.
During the first week of the war, numerous videos of Ukrainians giving their captive Russian soldiers tea and biscuits and calling their mother home were widely circulated on social media in Ukraine.
Following this, Ukraine said that Russia had sent 18-year-old teenagers to the war, fearing that the children would be released if their mothers in Russia asked for it.
Although Russia has not officially responded, many mothers and wives from Russia have come to the Ukrainian border in search of their children and husbands who are at war in Ukraine.
The Russian decision was to continue the war. Russia’s meeting was to finally withdraw from the Ukrainian defense despite fighting for a month and two weeks. Meanwhile, Russian planes set off to wreak havoc in Ukrainian cities.
However, Russia has not been able to subdue any of Ukraine’s major ten cities. With this, Russia withdrew from the northwestern part of Ukraine. However, Russia’s explanation was that Kiev was withdrawing because it was not their target.
U.S. intelligence reports that Russia’s withdrawal from Kiev has not ended the war, but is deploying Russian troops fighting in other parts of Ukraine in the rebel – held southeastern part of Ukraine, where the war is intensifying.
Meanwhile, Ukraine came to the scene with undeniable evidence from Russia. With this, Russia withdrew its claim that it had lost only 1351 soldiers. Instead, Russia finally admitted that it had suffered heavy casualties in the Ukraine war.
Putin’s close aide Dmitry Peskov has acknowledged the devastation in Ukraine. ‘Our soldiers have suffered significant losses. This is a great tragedy for us. ‘ Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Russia is downplaying its Ukraine losses following a 2015 order to keep war death tolls secret. Last year, Russia declared any statement defaming the military a crime.
NATO says at least 15,000 Russian troops may have been killed in Ukraine. Ukraine claims that this number is even higher, based on reports of battlefields and interruptions in communication.
Vadim Kolody, 19, of the 136th Intelligence Battalion near Moscow, was among those killed during the Ukrainian offensive. Tatiana’s mother, who is in Russia, told reporters that Vadim Kolodia, who was in an armored vehicle, could not even escape the attack and that the army had informed him that his son had been stabbed in the vehicle.
‘The first week was like darkness. Pain and tears. I could not sleep or eat. No one is looking for these kids. No one pays attention to them. How many of these children, husbands, are there? How painful was all this? ‘ Ania Deryabina, 25, from Chelyabinsk, asked while burying the body of her husband, a Russian army sniper.
‘I still can’t recognize or believe this is true. I talk to him every day. Every day I ask him what this is for and why. ‘My brain still refuses to accept the fact that Nikita is dead. I’m still waiting for him to call and come back. ‘ Peskov says in an interview with Sky News.
But they were not ready to admit that there was anything wrong with either Russia or the Russian military. Moreover, they reiterated that the brutal war footage of the Russian soldiers in the introduction was fake and untrue.
Peskov also denied allegations of a massacre in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. He claimed that the bodies had hit the streets after Russian troops withdrew from Ukraine.
‘Every day we go through lies and fake news. I do not think the Russian military is involved in these atrocities. Moreover, the UK Prime Minister speaks excessively about this.
Boris Johnson speaks loudly about being killed in war in Ukraine. But for the past eight years, when Ukrainian forces have killed Russian supporters in the Donbass with artillery and bombs, not a word has been heard from Boris Johnson … Peskov was upset.
At the same time, Peskov focused on justifying Russia’s occupation. Ukraine has been an anti-Russian center since 2014. “Therefore, the current military action is necessary,” he said.
Putin’s plan is to free Mariupol. He will soon succeed in it. Russia recognizes Mariupol as a separate nation. He claimed that he was part of the “Luhansk People’s Republic” and reiterated that Russian troops have the right to help people who have been suffering for eight years.
In the town of Bucha, 30 km north of Kiev, about 400 people were found dead in a mass grave with their hands tied behind their backs and shot in the head. Ukrainian President Selensky has called on the world community to unite against Russia following the revelations of the Russian military.
At the same time, Selensky called on NATO to provide more weapons to defeat Russia on Ukrainian soil. Russia has denied the allegations in a statement issued Friday stating “Similar, baseless allegations concerning Russia’s intelligence have been made more than once. More than 650 bodies, including 40 children, were found in and around Bucha.
Russia has accused Ukraine of using pictures of Bucha’s bodies to justify further sanctions and derail peace talks. Meanwhile, EU ambassadors agreed to a fifth embargo package against Russia with a 120-day coal embargo.
Germany has demanded that Russia be given time to find alternative suppliers and that action be delayed. Meanwhile, Luhansk Governor Sergei Gaidai said people should evacuate as soon as possible from the central-south-eastern region, where Russian shelling is rampant.
Meanwhile, Russian soldiers captured by Ukrainian prisoners of war alleged that they were beaten and threatened with death by Ukrainian soldiers when they were detained. Following this, Russia announced a criminal investigation into the matter.