After 300 days have passed since the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine, Zelensky announced that about 100,000 Russian soldiers had been killed. In the meantime, the Secretary General of the United Nations expressed his hope that effective peace negotiations will be resumed in 2023.
According to Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, since the beginning of the Russian military invasion of his country, the casualties of Russian military forces have reached nearly 100,000 people.
Zelensky said in a video message on Tuesday, December 29: “So far, Russia has lost 99,000 soldiers in this war, and in a few days this number will reach 100,000 people.” There is no one to ask themselves, why were they killed? “No one in Moscow has an answer to this question and will not have it in the future.”
In this message, he pointed out: “The Russian leaders in Moscow started a war in which many human lives were destroyed, not their own and their relatives’ lives, but the lives of others.”
President of Ukraine added: “These casualties are due to the fact that a group in the Kremlin is not ready to accept their mistakes and is afraid of the reality. But the reality is revealed.”
Zelensky’s most dangerous visit to the front line
According to the Ukrainian media, the President of the country met with the Ukrainian forces in the Bakhmut region on the front line of the conflict with the Russian army.
Since Russian military forces are right behind the gates of Bakhmut, Zelensky’s recent visit to this city is considered one of his riskiest visits to the front line so far. Bakhmut is located in Donetsk and is one of four regions that Putin declared annexed to Russian territory in September.
In a video aired by the state TV channel “Azadi”, Zelenskiy presents medals to frontline soldiers and says: “I was hoping I could say there was a light. But the situation is so difficult that there is light and there is no light.”
Zelensky’s comments also refer to widespread power outages in the country following heavy Russian attacks.
In the wake of Russia’s heaviest attacks since the start of the war on February 24, Ukraine’s energy supply operator Oknergo reported power cuts to large parts of Kyiv and Kharkiv following Russian missile attacks. It has been announced that the production capacity has been reduced by 50% due to the damage of at least 9 power plants.
During their attacks, the Russian military managed to occupy large parts of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces in the east and Kherson and Zaporizhia regions in the south of Ukraine.
In the last days of September, after holding a “demonstration referendum” in these four regions, Moscow announced their accession to the Russian Federation.
Germany’s request for mediation
German President Frank Walter-Steinmeier has asked his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to negotiate with Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
In this telephone conversation, Steinmeier emphasized the common interests of China and Europe in ending this war, as well as the importance of preserving the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the withdrawal of Russian forces from this country.
In this conversation, the President of Germany also emphasized the determination of his country and Europe to continue supporting Ukraine.
