[ad_1]
Kyiv, Dec. 2 (AP) Russia said Friday that Western demands it should withdraw from Ukraine entirely as part of any future talks to end the war effectively ruled out any such talks as Russia’s strike continued , Ukrainian officials set his country’s fighting losses at as many as 13,000 soldiers.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Russian President Vladimir Putin remained open to talks but that Western demands that Moscow withdraw troops from Ukraine first were unacceptable.
Peskov’s comments came as Putin spoke on the phone with German Chancellor Olaf Schulz on Friday morning. Schultz’s office said he had made it clear to Putin that “it must be resolved through diplomatic means as soon as possible, which includes the withdrawal of Russian troops.”
On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden also said he was open to talks with Putin if he showed he really wanted to end the invasion of Ukraine and withdraw from Ukraine.
Read also | Afghanistan: People marry off young daughters to avoid forced marriages with Taliban men.
Putin again accused the West of encouraging Ukraine to prolong the war by supplying Ukraine with weapons, the Kremlin said in a statement after the phone call with Scholz.
Putin also said Russia’s recent severe strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure were “forced and inevitable”.
Russian forces have been bombing critical infrastructure in Ukraine since October, leaving millions without power in freezing winter weather. In a telephone conversation with Putin, Scholz’s office said he “specifically condemned Russia’s airstrikes on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure” and said Germany was committed to continuing to help Ukraine defend itself.
Russian forces continued rocket attacks on infrastructure and airstrikes on Ukrainian army positions along the line of contact, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Friday, adding that Moscow’s military advance was focused on areas including Bahmut and Avdivka A dozen towns and cities including Russia’s main targets in the embattled east.
Between 10,000 and 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in action since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, citing military chiefs. It was a rare comment on Ukrainian military casualties, well below Western leaders’ estimates.
“We have official figures from the General Staff, we have official figures from the High Command, the death toll is between 10,000 and 12,500-13,000,” adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Channel 24 television late Thursday. He also said civilian casualties were “significant”.
The Ukrainian military has not confirmed such figures, and it is rare for Ukrainian officials to provide them. The last time it happened was in late August, when the head of the armed forces said nearly 9,000 service members had been killed. In June, Podolyak said as many as 200 soldiers were dying each day in some of the fiercest fighting and bloodshed of the war so far.
On Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, before her office corrected her comments — calling them inaccurate and saying This number refers to casualties.
Zelensky’s office reported on Friday that at least three civilians had been killed and 16 wounded in Ukraine in the past 24 hours. Tymoshenko, deputy head of the office, said in a telegram that Russian troops attacked nine regions in the southeast with heavy artillery, rockets and aircraft.
Ukrainians have been bracing for frigid winter temperatures after a recent Russian campaign hit infrastructure including power plants and power transformers, leaving many without heat, water and electricity.
Ukraine has faced an onslaught of Russian artillery fire and drone strikes since early October.
Shelling in Kherson has been particularly intense since Russian troops withdrew and Ukrainian troops retook the southern city nearly three weeks ago.
Three people were killed and seven wounded in Thursday’s shelling, the governor of the Kherson region said.
The Russians attacked residential areas of the city, and parts remained without power after the Russian attack on Thursday.
In eastern Donetsk, Ukrainian Governor Pavlo Kirilenko said Russian shelling had intensified significantly.
Russian troops are trying to encircle the key town of Bakhmut by capturing several surrounding villages and cutting off a key road.
Russia has also reportedly launched attacks on towns across the Dnieper River from the Russian-controlled Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. In northeastern Kharkiv province, officials said Russian shelling wounded two women. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
[ad_2]
Source link