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Kiev, Feb 26 (EFE) .- Ukraine claimed today to have killed more than 1,000 Russian soldiers in the war that the Kremlin launched last Sunday against the country and to have captured more than 300 soldiers who surrendered.
“The Russian Army is surrendering en masse. Even senior officers are surrendering. Today the commander of a Russian military unit surrendered. The commander of the tank battalion also surrendered. We have already had more than 300 regular fighters,” Oleksiy said in an appearance. Arestóvych, advisor to the Office of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
As for the casualties suffered in the Russian ranks, the numbers are not final yet, but there are “more than 1,000 dead men and around 2,500 wounded,” he said.
In the part of the war, the presidential adviser pointed out that Russia made “an operational pause”, after the Kremlin affirmed that Putin ordered the day before to stop the bulk of the offensive pending a response to the proposal to start negotiations under his conditions to stop the invasion.
The Kremlin accused Kiev of refusing to sit down for dialogue, which is why Putin today ordered troops to advance on all fronts in an all-out offensive.
“The enemy made an operational pause, as we call it. But it was not taken by choice, but because of the heavy losses they suffered while trying to attack the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard and other military services,” the advisor said. .
He explained that the arrival of enemy forces in western Kiev continues, but Ukraine is “using artillery to inflict heavy losses on them.”
“We destroyed their momentum and currently they are not moving towards Kiev because it is too painful for them,” Arestovych said.
He said that also Chernigov (north) “is standing”, as well as Sumy (northeast), and Kharkov (east).
In the area of the Joint Forces Operation, that is to say Donbas, the Ukrainian Army “holds its positions”.
“Today another Russian plane trying to attack our positions near Mariupol (Sea of Azov) was shot down. Unfortunately, the brigade of the tactical group is moving to Mariupol from Melitopol (south), which Russia claims to have under control.
“But our forces know about this problem and are currently ready to solve it,” he said.
In Perevalniy, Crimea, 53% of conscripts ran away and are now hiding in houses, he further stated.
He acknowledged “that there is a problem” in the direction of Energodar-Zaporizhzhya (south), where the advance unit of the enemy is moving there.
“We are aware of this and we are working on it,” he said.
Ukraine today estimated at least 198 Ukrainian deaths from the war launched by Russia three days ago against the country, as reported by Ukraine’s Minister of Health, Viktor Liashkó.
“Unfortunately, according to operational data, we have 198 dead, including 3 children, and 1,115 injured, 33 of whom are minors,” he said on his Facebook account.
(c) EFE Agency