Russia condemns the Western supply of weapons to Ukraine claiming it would only further drag the conflict and increase the number of victims.
New Delhi: The Russian Ministry of Defense released combat data that reported the casualties of the Russian conflict. The Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation has reported that 1,587 Ukrainian tanks and similar combat vehicles had been destroyed since February 24.
It said that 112 aircraft including helicopters, drones have been put out of action by the Russian armed forces. The MoD also issued an update on Russia’s combat losses, which stand at 1,351 service fatalities with a further 3,825 injured.
According to an AFP report, Russia while condemning Western supplies of weapons to Kyiv said that more than 400,000 civilians have been evacuated.
A senior defence ministry official, Mikhail Mizintsev, said 419,736 civilians had been evacuated to Russia from the separatist eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as the rest of Ukraine. Of these, more than 88,000 were children, he added, while 9,000 were foreigners.
“Russia will continue to open and provide humanitarian corridors in all directions,” Mizintsev AFP quoted him as saying.
A senior representative of the General Staff, Sergei Rudskoi said, “We consider a huge mistake the supplies of arms to Kyiv by Western countries.
“This prolongs the conflict, increases the number of victims and will not be able to influence the outcome of the operation,” Rudskoi added. He further said that this wouldn’t help Ukraine but would just drag the conflict further.
He said that some NATO members are asking to close the sky adding Russia will react accordingly. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called for NATO to impose a no-fly zone over his country.
Rudskoi claimed that Ukraine had lost 14,000 troops while 16,000 were wounded because Russia was carrying out the operation in all of Ukraine.
