Russia’s Defense Ministry is downplaying claims made in an open letter apparently from members of the 155th marine brigade of Russia’s Pacific Fleet saying they had been sent into an “incomprehensible offensive” on Ukrainian forces near Donetsk.
The letter was published on the telegram channel of Grey Zone, a Russian military blog.
“As a result of the ‘carefully’ planned offensive by the ‘great generals,’ we lost about 300 people in 4 days, killed, wounded and missing,” the letter says. It adds that brigade commanders “call people fodder” and only care about their own careers.
Russian officials tacitly acknowledged the source of the letter but said it exaggerated the losses.
“For more than 10 days, units of the 155th brigade of the marines of the Pacific Fleet have been conducting effective offensive operations in the Uludar direction,” the defense ministry said in a statement. “Due to the competent actions of the commanders of the units, the losses of the Marines over this period do not exceed 1% of the combat strength and 7% of the wounded, a significant part of which have already returned to duty.”
Latest developments:
►Two civilians were seriously wounded by exploding mines in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, where Ukraine has retaken territory, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said.
►Russian-installed authorities in partially occupied Kherson region said they have completed measures to evacuate residents ahead of anticipated Ukrainian advances.
North Korea denies making arms sales to Russia
North Korea denied claims that it’s shipping artillery shells and ammunition to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby recently accused North Korea of covertly supplying a “significant number” of ammunition shipments to Russia. And the secretive nation’s factories are producing uniforms for Russian soldiers, sources inside North Korea told Radio Free Asia.
Last week, Russia sent leader Kim Jong Un a trainload of 30 thoroughbred horses, opening the border with its neighbor for the first time in 2 1/2 years.
Zelenskyy makes rare pitch for peace talks, on tough terms
Ukraine’s president made a rare but contingency-laden pitch for peace talks with Russia on Tuesday, imploring the world to help “force Russia into genuine peace negotiations.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again blamed Russia for the failure to establish talks, saying his nation’s repeated proposals for peace have “always received insane Russian responses with new terrorist attacks, shelling or blackmail.”
Zelenskyy’s demands for talks would likely draw a hard no from the Kremlin – return of all Russian-occupied land to Ukrainian control, respect for the U.N. Charter, compensation for all damages caused by the war, punishment of every war criminal and guarantees that Russia won’t invade Ukraine again.
“These are completely understandable conditions,” Zelenskyy said.
Russia has repeatedly claimed to be willing to negotiate but has rejected Ukraine’s conditions.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Russian fighters mock generals; Ukraine considers talks: Live updates