The massacre of suspected civilians in the town of Boutcha, near kyiv, is “a fake”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, whose country denies any abuse in Ukraine. Comparing these accusations to those concerning the use of chemical weapons by the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Vladimir Putin declared: “We have the same fake in Boutcha”. Ukrainian authorities said they discovered dozens of bodies in the town after Russian forces withdrew in late March.
The offensive continues “calmly”, says Putin
Vladimir Putin then assured that the Russian offensive in Ukraine continued “calmly” and minimizing the losses, refusing to set a timetable. “Our task is to accomplish the set objectives while minimizing losses, we will act harmoniously, calmly, in accordance with the plan proposed from the start by the general staff,” Vladimir Putin told a conference. press at a cosmodrome in the Russian Far East.
Vladimir Putin, who was in Vostochny with his Belarusian counterpart and ally Alexander Lukashenko, brushed aside the notion that the Russian military was struggling with Ukrainian resistance and had to give up taking major cities and the capital kyiv to concentrate on the Donbass, in the east of the country. “Our actions in certain regions of Ukraine were only intended to fix (Ukrainian) forces far from Donbass, strike a blow and destroy the military infrastructure,” he assured.
Russia consistently denies killing civilians
The president also implied that if the Russian forces were not going faster, it was to avoid too great losses, even though the Kremlin admitted to experiencing “significant” losses without quantifying them precisely. “I often hear the question, can we do it faster? Yes, it’s possible but it means stepping up military operations which unfortunately would have an effect on casualties,” he explained.
Russia systematically denies having been able to kill civilians, accusing Ukraine of using its population as a human shield. Asked about the massacre of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Boutcha, of which Ukraine and the West accuse the Russian forces, who occupied this suburb of kyiv, Vladimir Putin unsurprisingly brushed aside the subject. Comparing these accusations to those concerning the use of chemical weapons by the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Vladimir Putin declared: “We have the same fake in Boutcha”.
Russian goals “are clear and noble”
Alexander Lukashenko saw it as “a special psychological operation of the English”. Earlier in the day, Vladimir Putin described the Russian military offensive as “noble”, once again claiming to have come to save the Russians of Donbass from a genocide orchestrated by Ukrainian neo-Nazis. “There is no doubt (that the Russian objectives will be fulfilled) they are absolutely clear and noble (…) the main objective is to help the people of Donbass”, he reiterated.
Vladimir Putin also mocked the United States on Tuesday, saying it was ready to fight Russia “to the last Ukrainian”. The Russian president finally felt that despite the “current tragedy”, the Ukrainians were a “brother people”.