Russia’s Defense Ministry has a new excuse for why it is faltering in the war in Ukraine: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed—without providing evidence—that Russian forces are being careful to avoid civilian casualties, which he says is slowing down their progress.
“Every effort is being done to prevent civilian casualties. It certainly slows down the advance,” Shoigu told a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Wednesday, according to TASS. “But we are doing it on purpose.”
Russian forces, however, have been hitting Ukrainian civilians from the beginning of the war, which Wednesday reached its six-month mark. In the early days of the war, Russia hit a maternity hospital, killing at least one mother and baby. Since, Russia has hit playgrounds, theaters clearly marked as safeguarding children, office and apartment buildings, a shopping mall.
Moscow has repeatedly denied it was behind the attacks, and has instead claimed it was “fake news,” or that the people dying from the attacks were crisis actors. Russia has even tried to place blame on Ukrainians and accused them of attacking their own people.
Shoigu’s bogus attempt at explaining Russia’s failings in the war in Ukraine come after a series of embarrassing news cycles for Russia, with a whole slew of explosions and attacks damaging a Russian air base in Crimea and a key supply bridge. According to a senior U.S. defense official, they come as the war has entered a new phase where Russia is really not making much progress at all.
Americans Told to GTFO of Ukraine Amid Warnings of Russian Strikes, ‘Radioactive Dust’
“Right now, I would say that you are seeing a complete and total lack of progress by the Russians on the battlefield,” the senior U.S. defense official told reporters in a briefing last week. “We are at a different phase than... where we were even a couple of months ago.
Shoigu’s bogus attempt at explaining Russia’s failings in the war in Ukraine come after a series of embarrassing news cycles for Russia, with a whole slew of explosions and attacks damaging a Russian air base in Crimea and a key supply bridge. According to a senior U.S. defense official, they come as the war has entered a new phase where Russia is really not making much progress at all.
Americans Told to GTFO of Ukraine Amid Warnings of Russian Strikes, ‘Radioactive Dust’
“Right now, I would say that you are seeing a complete and total lack of progress by the Russians on the battlefield,” the senior U.S. defense official told reporters in a briefing last week. “We are at a different phase than... where we were even a couple of months ago.”
Shoigu's comments to brush off Russia’s battlefield problems also come in advance of an expected counteroffensive against Kherson, which Russia seized early in the war.