2023-06-06 16:12:07
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that 71 Russian servicemen were killed in what he described as a failed Ukrainian attack in recent days.
He added, in a statement published by the Ministry of Defense on “Telegram”, that 15 Russian tanks and nine armored vehicles were destroyed during the fighting.
“I repeat, the enemy did not achieve its goals and suffered heavy losses,” the statement quoted Shoigu as saying.
Shoigu accused Ukraine of blowing up the huge Kakhovka dam as part of a plan to redeploy units from the nearby Kherson region to carry out operations against Russian forces.
A Russian Defense Ministry statement, signed by Shoigu, said the dam bombing and resulting floods were intended to prevent Russia from attacking near Kherson while allowing Ukraine to “transfer units and equipment from the Kherson front to the area of offensive operations.”
On the other hand, Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, considered that what happened was “a new stage of Russian aggression… Russia has shown its true goal (which is) to destroy Ukraine, kill Ukrainians and destroy the economy.”
In Washington, an official in the administration of US President Joe Biden said, on Tuesday, that the United States is “very concerned” after the bombing of the Russian-controlled dam in Ukraine, and is trying to learn more about the possible effects of that.
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