Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday, March 3, that a “special military operation” in Ukraine was proceeding exactly as planned. He called Russian soldiers operating in the neighboring country heroes. In a televised speech, Putin also made several allegations against Ukrainian forces, but did not offer evidence for his allegations.
He said, for example, that Ukraine’s “nationalists” were using Ukraine’s civilian population as living shields, Reuters reported. He specifically accused Ukrainian forces of deploying heavy military equipment in residential areas.
“I want to say that the special military operation is proceeding strictly on schedule, according to plan. All the set tasks are being fulfilled successfully, “the Russian agency TASS quoted Putin’s words.
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Western countries, which have imposed severe economic sanctions on Russia in recent days due to a large-scale military invasion of a neighboring country, warn that the Russian army is advancing very slowly and has not yet taken control of any major city. The metropolis of Kyiv, but also the second largest city in Kharkov, southern Ukraine’s Mariupol and other places, however, are under persistent Russian fire and bombing.
Russia launched the invasion of Ukraine last week. He describes his activities in the country as a “special military operation”. and denies attacking civilian targets.
A Russian and Ukrainian delegation met in Belarus today for a second round of talks. Moscow says that about 500 Russian soldiers were killed in the fighting, but according to Kiev, the number of casualties in the Russian ranks is many times higher.
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