Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the actions of the Ukrainian army. In a conversation with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, he said that the counter-offensive “failed”, TASS reports.
The leaders discussed the conflict in Ukraine during a meeting in St. Petersburg. Lukashenko said that “there is no counter-offensive”, to which Putin replied that “there is, but it failed.” The leader of Belarus added that the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the start of the offensive (June 4 – ed.) amounted to more than 26 thousand people. “More,” Putin added. He also stated that foreign mercenaries were suffering “considerable losses due to their stupidity”. According to Putin, on July 22 alone, a record number of foreign equipment was destroyed in the NVO zone, including more than 15 wrecked Leopard tanks and more than 20 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
In addition, Lukashenka and Putin discussed the issue of NATO expansion. The President of Belarus noted that talk of accepting Ukraine into the bloc is a “smoke screen” of the West, which wants to transfer the lands of Western Ukraine to Poland.
During the conversation, the problems of the development of bilateral relations were also touched upon. Putin noted that all joint plans of Belarus and the Russian Federation are being implemented at a better pace than expected. For the year in Belarus, economic growth is expected at the level of 3.7%, in the Russian Federation – a little more than 2%.
Previously, Putin has repeatedly stated the failure of Kyiv’s offensive, which he launched on June 4. He noted that the formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are suffering huge losses. In his opinion, “neither the resources that were “pumped” into the Kiev regime”, nor the supply of Western weapons, “nor the sending of thousands of foreign mercenaries and advisers” to help break through the front line, help Ukraine. At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that the counteroffensive will “gain momentum”. He attributed the slowness to the late start of the counter-offensive, which, he said, allowed Russia to mine the area and build several defensive lines.
Source: Rosbalt
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