Ukraine acknowledged on Monday that it has lost about 9,000 troops since Russia began invading it six months ago, a conflict that shows no signs of ending anytime soon.
“About 9,000 heroes died,” said the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Army, General Zaluzhny, at a public demonstration.
Zaluzhny added that there are Ukrainian children who need special attention because their parents went to the front and “were probably among the 9,000 heroes who died”.
The army chief’s statement is the first on Kiev’s military casualties since April.
On Wednesday Ukraine celebrates its Independence Day, which this year coincides with six months of the Russian invasion.
“I think we are facing a largescale war,” European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said during a press conference in northern Spain, where he announced that the EU is discussing the creation of a large “training and aid organization” for the Ukrainian army.
Buy time?
After the failure of its attempt to take Kyiv, Moscow has focused its offensive on the country’s southern and eastern regions, where it is attempting to control the entire Donbass, which has been partially occupied by proRussian separatists since 2014.
An aide to Ukraine’s president told AFP that Russia is trying to persuade Kyiv to start new talks to buy time for a reorganization.
For weeks the Kremlin has been “trying to persuade Ukraine to start negotiations,” Mikhail Podoliak told AFP.
The presidential adviser suggested it was a ploy to “freeze the conflict while maintaining the status quo in the occupied Ukrainian territories”.
Podoliak said Kyiv believes Moscow really doesn’t want serious peace talks but “a pause operation for its army” before a new offensive.
Two days after the sixmonth anniversary of the invasion, Ukraine’s Russian Security Service (FSB) has accused Ukraine of responsibility for the death of Daria Dugina, the daughter of philosopher Alexander Dugin, who is believed to be close to the Kremlin, after her vehicle exploded nearby on Saturday from Moscow.
The “assassination” of Daria Dugina “was prepared and carried out by Ukrainian special services,” said the FSB, quoted by Russian news agencies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called Dugina’s death a “heinous crime” in a condolence message released by the Kremlin on Monday.
Alexander Dugin is an ultranationalist intellectual and writer who, like his daughter, strongly supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to the FSB, the person who placed the explosives in the vehicle is a Ukrainian woman who allegedly fled to Estonia after the bombing.
“Ukraine has absolutely nothing to do with the explosion,” the Ukrainian Presidency said on Sunday.
Anniversary of Independence
This accusation against Kyiv threatens to further intensify tensions between the two countries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia could be preparing something particularly “cruel” this week.
Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Russia could take the provocative step of prosecuting Ukrainian soldiers detained during the attack on Mariupol in the south of the country.
“If this hideous judgment takes place […] will be the line from which no negotiations are possible,” Zelenskyy argued in a message aired overnight.
Soldiers from the Azov Battalion, who were captured by Russian forces after the Battle of Mariupol and released in a prisoner exchange, themselves said they had been tortured in Russian custody. A former detainee said he had witnessed “serious” instances of torture.
In addition, Ukraine’s presidential adviser warned that Russia could step up its bombing campaign on August 2324.
Faced with this possibility, the authorities banned public demonstrations from August 22 to 25 in Kyiv and Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city.
Meanwhile, the invasion of Ukraine has turned the global energy market upside down, and the conflict is already having consequences in the form of rising energy prices and food shortages.
With the prospect of falling thermometers, Europeans are anticipating a harsh winter due to Russian gas shortages.
On Monday, Bulgaria said it was trying to negotiate with Russian giant Gazprom. The country is almost completely dependent on Russia for its annual consumption of 3 billion cubic meters of natural gas.