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Putin meets troopers’ moms, some bereaved
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Putin: ‘I personally, and the entire management, share your ache’
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Russia has not absolutely revealed its battlefield losses
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Some moms say Kremlin ignores extra vital family’ teams
(Updates with feedback from moms)
By Man Faulconbridge
LONDON, Nov 25 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin spoke on Friday to a rigorously chosen group of moms of Russian troopers despatched to battle in Ukraine who praised his management whereas he advised them their sons had not died in useless.
Tens of 1000’s of Russian and Ukrainian troopers have been killed or wounded within the battle sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, based on the US.
A whole bunch of 1000’s of Russians have been despatched to battle in Ukraine – together with among the greater than 300,000 referred to as up as a part of a mobilisation introduced in September.
A whole bunch of 1000’s extra have fled Russia to flee the draft, and dissatisfaction with troopers’ lack of kit or coaching or the chaotic nature of the mobilisation might be discovered throughout social media. Protests towards the struggle and the enlistment drive have been crushed by power.
Putin was proven in recordings assembly 17 ladies at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outdoors Moscow to mark Sunday’s Russian Mom’s Day, sitting round a desk laden with tea, desserts and berries, and listening to their tales for over two hours.
Putin mentioned he understood their anxiousness and concern – and the ache of those that had misplaced sons.
“I would love you to know that, that I personally, and the entire management of the nation – we share your ache,” he mentioned.
“We perceive that nothing can exchange the lack of a son – particularly for a mom,” he added, respiratory closely and often clearing his throat.
Putin has mentioned he has no regrets about what he calls Russia’s “particular army operation” in Ukraine, which he describes because the second Russia confronted down Western hegemony after many years of humiliation because the Soviet Union fell in 1991.
Ukraine and the West say Putin has no justification for what they are saying is a struggle of conquest.
‘HE DID NOT LEAVE LIFE IN VAIN’
Putin praised the ladies’s sons for defending “Novorossiya”, actually “new Russia”, a loaded time period from the tsarist empire that trendy Russian nationalists use to explain the massive components of southern and japanese Ukraine that Russia now claims.
The president mentioned he typically referred to as troopers on the entrance, and that their phrases had made them heroes in his eyes.
The moms, from throughout Russia and from completely different ethnic teams, in flip expressed thanks for his management and wished him effectively, earlier than telling of sons who had fought or died with valour within the service of a noble trigger.
“The Particular Navy Operation has introduced us collectively,” Maria Kostyuk advised him earlier than suggesting that the properties of fallen troopers needs to be given a star to hold on the door, as that they had been in World Struggle Two.
Most did deliver complaints, however they had been about low-level points resembling an absence of fine clothes for the troopers, the necessity for extra drones on the entrance, or the indifference of some officers.
Nina Pshenichkina, a girl from Ukraine’s Donetsk province whose son died, mentioned his loss had impressed her to work even more durable to make the area – now unilaterally annexed by Moscow – a part of Russia.
“Your son lived, and his purpose has been achieved,” Putin advised her. “And meaning he didn’t go away life in useless.”
Different family of troopers killed within the struggle mentioned the Kremlin had ignored their pleas for a gathering and that the one hosted by Putin could be rigorously staged.
“The moms will ask the ‘right’ questions that had been agreed beforehand,” Olga Tsukanova, head of the Council of Moms and Wives, mentioned in a message on Telegram beforehand.
“Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) – are you a person or who’re you? Do you will have the braveness to fulfill us head to head, brazenly, not with pre-agreed ladies and moms who’re in your pocket, however with actual ladies who’ve travelled from completely different cities right here to fulfill with you? We await your reply,” Tsukanova mentioned.
Russia final publicly disclosed its losses on Sept. 21, saying 5,937 troopers had been killed. That quantity is way beneath most worldwide estimates.
America’ high basic estimated on Nov. 9 that greater than 100,000 troopers had been killed or wounded on both sides. Ukraine doesn’t disclose its losses.
(Reporting by Man Faulconbridge and Kevin Liffey; enhancing by Philippa Fletcher)