Russia admitted to suffering “significant troop losses” in Ukraine, as the invasion enters its day 44.
The presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told the British channel Sky News that the victims were “a great tragedy” for Russia.
He also said that he hoped that Moscow would achieve its war goals “in the next few days”.
Peskov’s comments followed Russia’s expulsion from the United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday.
Some 93 of the 193 members of the UN General Assembly voted in favor of the diplomatic reprimand, which followed allegations of massive human rights abuses by Russian troops in the town of Bucha, in northern Ukraine.
Moscow announced its resignation from the council in response.
The agency expressed its “serious concern about the ongoing humanitarian and human rights crisis”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of further atrocities in Borodianka, a town near the capital kyiv.
Peskov denied any suggestion that Russian troops were responsible for the executions in the city of Bucha, telling the British outlet that “we are living in days of falsifications and lies.” He claimed that images of civilians killed in the city were staged.
- BBC investigation: what the confirmed figures of Russian soldiers tell us deaths from the invasion of Ukraine
However, his admission that Russia has suffered significant casualties is surprising. The 25 March, the Russian Defense Ministry said that 1,351 of his soldiers had died in combat. Ukraine puts Russian fatalities at nearly ,.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine’s estimates of Russian losses can be independently verified, and analysts have warned that Russia may be underplaying its casualty rate, while Ukraine may be inflating it to boost morale.
Western leaders believe that 7 have died, Y 15,000 russian soldiers.
End the war
Peskov, who has served as spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin sde 1200, also stated that Russia is looking for ways to end the war.
“Our army is doing everything possible to end this operation,” he said. “And we hope that in the next few days, in the foreseeable future, this operation will achieve its objectives or end it with negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations.”
Russia withdrew troops from kyiv and changed most of the focus of his war to eeast of Ukraine, but the fight shows no signs of ending.
- President Zelensky assures that the destruction in the city of Borodianka is “much more horrible” than in nearby Bucha
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister has urged Ukrainians living in the east to flee while they can, but the intensity of shelling is hampering evacuations.
Ukraine aims to establish up to 10 humanitarian corridors for Friday, but civilians trying to flee Mariupol will have to use private vehicles, reports or Reuters.
Not even in the Cold War
On Thursday, Western nations imposed further sanctions on the Russian economy in retaliation for alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine.
The United States Senate voted unanimously to remove Russia’s “most favored nation” trade status, opening the door to harmful new tariffs and import controls on products such as platinum, chemicals , iron and steel.
And the European Union agreed to gradually impose a ban on imports of Russian coal, worth around of $4 billion a year for the Russian economy, for the next 120 days.
Speaking before Russia’s Parliament, the State Duma, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin admitted that the cumulative impact of extensive sanctions means that the country and It faces its worst economic outlook in decades.
“Without a doubt, the current situation could be called the most difficult in three decades for Russia,” he said. “Such sanctions were not used even in the darkest times of the Cold War.”
But he stated that the impact of Western sanctions has been limited and told parliamentarians that “the financial system, the soul of the entire economy, has been maintained”.
After collapsing to a record low in late February, Russia’s currency, the ruble, recovered to its pre-war level.
Zelensky has renewed his calls for new supplies of heavy weapons from the West, saying his forces need “weapons that give them the means to win on the battlefield and that they will be the strongest possible sanction against Russia”.
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