Russia’s Vladimir Putin hailed his “brave” and “effective” troops in Ukraine on Tuesday, even as social-media posts surfaced showing the Russian military suffered yet another setback after more than 40 days of war.
The Russian leader vowed that his “noble” war against Ukraine would be successful and defiantly said his country could not be isolated from the rest of the world.
“There is no doubt that the goals and tasks of the operation in Ukraine will be fulfilled,” he said, claiming “confrontation with the growing anti-Russian forces in Ukraine was inevitable” and only “a question of time.”
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“The Russian Armed Forces have acted bravely, efficiently, and effectively in the course of the special military operation in Ukraine, using the most contemporary kinds of weapons,” he said.
“What we are doing is helping people, saving people, on the one hand, and on the other hand—we are simply taking measures to ensure the security of Russia itself. It’s evident that we had no other choice, this is the right decision,” he said, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.
His glowing assessment comes amid reports that another high-ranking military official was killed in Ukraine.
Lt. Col. Dibir Dibirovich Magomedovich, a Dagestan native, was killed on April 9, according to a now-deleted post on the VK page of a Russian military academy.
A screenshot of the since-deleted post shared by Ukrainian media outlets shows that people were invited to make donations to Magomedovich’s family.
Magomedovich was reportedly based in Chechnya with the 291st Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 42nd Guards Motorized Rifle Division. No details were given on where, and in what circumstances, he was killed.
His death adds to a long list of senior military brass killed in Ukraine, as Russia goes all in on drumming up support for the war at home, with huge “Z” symbols popping up on theaters and museums around the country, and schoolchildren instructed to write letters of support to Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, evidence of possible Russian war crimes in the country has continued to grow, as Ukraine’s human-rights ombudswoman told The New York Times and the BBC that Russian troops held more than two dozen women captive in a basement in Bucha while they occupied the devastated town.
Nine of the women in that group—which included girls as young as 14—are now pregnant, according to the ombudswoman, Lyudmila Denisova.
“Russian soldiers told them they would rape them to the point where they wouldn’t want sexual contact with any man, to prevent them from having Ukrainian children,” Denisova told the BBC.
In one of the most heinous allegations against Russian troops so far, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday confirmed reports that a Russian soldier sent around video of himself sexually assaulting a baby.
“That is such a Russian military ‘defender of children,’” Zelensky said in a speech before the Lithuanian parliament, quipping that Russian propagandists will likely claim the alleged abuse was “protecting Russian speakers.”
According to Russian media reports, the soldier in question, Aleksei Bychkov, was arrested on Russian territory, where he serves in Pskov. It was not clear where the alleged attack on the child took place.
