Putin Finally Cops to Dead Russian Troops in Ukraine

[Wicked Blue]

Daily Beast
Barbie Latza Nadeau, Tim Teeman, Shannon Vavra, Noor Ibrahim

Moscow has publicly acknowledged that Russian troops have been killed in action in Ukraine, marking the first time the Kremlin has admitted to casualties among its army since President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of the neighboring country on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, there are killed and injured among our comrades,” Igor Konashenkova, spokesperson for Russia’s defense ministry, announced in a Russian state television address on Sunday. The spokesperson did not offer any specific numbers on the dead or wounded, but claimed that Ukrainian forces have suffered “many” more casualties than the Russian side.

The Ukrainian government, meanwhile, has claimed that some 3,500 Russian soldiers have been killed since the start of the war.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a Facebook update Sunday that 352 Ukrainian civilians, including 14 children, had been killed—and that 1684 people, including 116 children, had been injured.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ukrainian-president-zelensky-agrees-to-peace-talks-as-putin-puts-nuclear-forces-on-high-alert?ref=home

[Victor_c3]

2. My heart goes out to the families of those killed on both sides of the conflict

I absolutely don’t want to see Ukraine fall to the Russians, but I totally feel for those who have lost loved ones during the conflict. Every Russian soldier killed has a mother back home weeping for her son - as does the parent of a Ukrainian child killed in the war.

War is such a waste of lives.

[MaryMagdaline]

3. It is. Soldiers signing up to defend Mother Russia are misused in this unjust war

[Victor_c3]

6. That's how I feel about my own military experiences

I joined the US Army in 1997 with the expectation that my service would be used towards making the world a better place. I saw what we were doing in Bosnia/Kosovo at the time and I believed that we as a nation had learned our lessons Vietnam. I never thought I’d find myself in a war like Iraq. I wanted to protect the less fortunate from aggressive nations looking to expand territory and I wanted to help prevent genocide.

Fast forward to 2004 and I had a leading role in the war on Iraq. I spent 13 months as an Infantry Platoon Leader in Iraq between feb 2004 and March 2005 and I saw plenty of combat. I never believed we should have been in Iraq and I always did my best to do the right thing when I was there.

In a way, what I did in Iraq isn’t too different from what the Russians are doing in Ukraine.

[MaryMagdaline]

8. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. People like Bush and Putin don't deserve

the people who serve under them. I appreciate the fact that you were ready and prepared to defend us. I don’t have that type of courage.

[TomSlick]

4. I will grieve for Russian casualties when the Russian population rises up against Putin.

Governments exist by the consent, or at least acquiescence, of the governed. When the Russian people have had all of Putin that they are willing to abide, their ancestors showed them the answer in 1917. Until then, the Russian people are consenting to and abetting Putin's crimes against peace and war crimes.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

5. This👆🌻

[Victor_c3]

9. Kind of like how we as nation allowed the war on Iraq to happen?

As Democrats, we even gave free passes to politicians who championed and voted to allow that war happen (i.e. Hillary Clinton).

I even participated in that war despite the fact I never believed in it - that certainly says a lot about my own character. Don’t worry, I hate myself plenty for what I was a part of in Iraq. I even have the suicide scars and severe PTSD to go along with it.

I mostly agree with your statement, but it’s not 100% true.

[TomSlick]

10. I too participated in that war, albeit as a state-side REMF,

helping the processing and training of reservists for shipment to Iraq.

The truth remains that we participated. At least in my case, my suspicion the war was based on a lie did not rise to the level of firm conviction until after the fact.

The American people acquiesced in the war. If we had not, we would have stopped it.

[Eyeball_Kid]

7. The wealthy tell them to fight and kill for money.

We are not perfect. No one is. But this time: here he is, arguably the richest person on earth, and he's hired his army to invade another country. Of course, he's not directly paying for the army. He's got millions of Russian common folk to do that. And when they object to the methods that the richest person on earth uses to lay waste to their money, they get imprisoned or killed.

There's something odd about this.

Arguably the richest person on earth has unilaterally decided to invade another country with an army that's raised from taxpayer money. And he uses that army to go to war. When taxpayers object to the war and how THEIR money is spent, THEY get punished or killed.

This is what Trump admires about Putin. Trump admires absolute power. He has to purge all Republican politicians if he deems them "RINO"s. We see it in his dealings with potential rivals. He is ruthless. They either fall in line or their career is over. No in-between. All or nothing. Like Putin.

Putin kills. Trump admires Putin's power as a killer (as he does regarding Kim Jung Un)... No one is saying this, but perhaps it's about time. I'm speculating that Trump is behind a lot of murders. If we call him, legitimately, a sociopath, we should expect that he is indifferent toward the life or death of others. Killing is a means to an end. Some day we'll find out. We'll find out, for instance, all about prison suicides. Secrets like that don't last.