Russia confirms Ukraine's counter-offensive is over
(Baonghean.vn) - According to Moscow's representative, Kiev has achieved nothing and the Russian army has now taken the initiative.
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council on October 13 that the four-month-long “counter-offensive” by Ukrainian forces had failed to achieve any of its goals.
“Over the past few days, the Russian army has moved into combat operations, almost along the entire front line. Therefore, we can consider the so-called Ukrainian counteroffensive to be officially over,” Nebenzia said.
According to the Russian envoy, four months of Ukrainian attacks have resulted in “hundreds of Western equipment units destroyed” and “tens of thousands of lives of people conscripted by the Kiev regime, most of whom did not want to fight.” Some lucky ones surrendered and survived, Nebenzia added.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi that Ukrainian casualties amounted to “more than 90,000 people”, 557 tanks and 1,900 armored vehicles.
Speaking before the UN Security Council, Mr Nebenzia said that instead of ending the “massacre” of Ukrainians on the frontline, the West “continues to supply them with weapons, like drugs to addicts, thus prolonging their suffering”.
“I would like to emphasize that Russia is facing not only the Ukrainian armed forces, whose resources are almost exhausted, but also the collective military machine of NATO countries and their defense industries,” the Russian envoy added.
“The cynicism of our former Western partners is astonishing,” he said, echoing Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren’s recent statement that arming Ukraine was “a very cheap way” to confront Russia.
A Ukraine that lives in peace with its neighbors and respects the rights of all its citizens “has and still has a future,” the Russian envoy concluded, while “the criminal neo-fascist regime” does not.
Earlier, the head of Ukraine's military intelligence agency Kirill Budanov admitted on October 12 that the counterattack was not only "behind schedule" but "completely unplanned", adding that the explanation for that was top secret.
