Russia has achieved “certain results” in its military campaign in Ukraine, the Kremlin said Friday as the war passed the 100-day mark, vowing to continue what it calls a “special military operation” until all its goals are met.
President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 with the stated aim of “demilitarizing and denazifying” the country — a goal based on his false assertion that Kyiv had been taken over by neo-Nazis — and of stopping what he calls a “genocide” against Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "many settlements have been liberated” from what he called “the pro-Nazi armed forces of Ukraine and directly from nationalist elements," according to the state-run TASS news agency.
"The opportunity has been provided for people to start establishing a peaceful life," he told reporters.
"This work will continue until the time when all of the goals of the military operation are achieved."
Russia’s war in Ukraine has killed thousands and forcibly displaced millions, sparking the fastest and largest displacement of people in Europe since World War II.
On Thursday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian troops control about 20% of Ukraine, including the annexed Crimean peninsula and territory in the east held by Moscow-backed separatists since 2014.
While Russia has repeatedly claimed it does not intend to occupy Ukrainian territory, parts of southern and eastern Ukraine have seen a forced conversion to the Russian ruble and installations of pro-Moscow local authorities.
Earlier, Zelensky said that between 60 and 100 Ukrainian soldiers are currently dying on the battlefield every day.
Russia last published its military losses in March, claiming that 1,351 troops had been killed. However, open-source data collected by independent media has verified the deaths of more than 3,000 Russian soldiers as of this week.
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