Both Russian president Vladimir Putin and Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu delivered speeches on Wednesday in the wake of announcements by the Donbass Republics as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions that they are planning to hold votes on joining Russia on September 23-27.
In his TV address on Wednesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russia was at war with the collective West rather than Ukraine.
He stressed that more than 70 military satellites and 200 civilian satellites are working to aid Ukraine and added that some 150 Western military specialists have been deployed to Kiev, de facto leading Ukrainian forces.
Military Losses of Russia and Ukraine
“Over this time, their losses amount to over 100,000 [military casualties]. This includes 61,207 deaths and 49,368 troops who were injured,” Shoigu said.
Partial Mobilization
Shoigu has also provided details on the military’s plans, explaining that partial mobilization in Russia is necessary to hold a 1,000-kilometer wide line of control and the liberated territories.
“Naturally, what is behind, and what is there, along this line, it must be secured, these territories must be controlled. And, of course, first of all, this is what this work is being done for – I mean, partial mobilization,” Shoigu said.
Sergei Shoigu said that the Russian forces fully control the territory of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), partially control the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, and added that they are advancing in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).
The move was followed by President Putin signing a decree on the partial mobilization in Russia.
Ukraine’s military uses Western precision weapons for strikes on civilians — Shoigu TASS
MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. The Ukrainian military is increasingly using West-supplied precision weapons for strikes against civilians, Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergey Shoigu said in a live broadcast on the Rossiya-24 TV Channel on Wednesday.
“As for precision weapons. We were surprised that they [the Ukrainian authorities] have been trying to hide their amount lately. We understand why they are doing this. This is because we see ever more frequently, and actually every day, that strikes from these weapons are being delivered against civilians,” Shoigu said.
Civilians were killed as a result of strikes from these weapons the other day, the Russian defense minister said, pointing to numerous instances of such shelling attacks. “They are striking hospitals and crowed places,” Shoigu said.
As the Russian defense chief pointed out, these strikes are fully controlled by advisers from Western countries, TASS reports