Peskov on Russia's huge losses in Ukraine: I can't comment

IRYNA BALACHUK - TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2022, 14:04

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Russian president, said he could not "comment" on the data on nearly 10,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, published on Komsomolskaya Pravda (Russian media – ed.) website.

Source: Meduza with reference to Peskov's response to foreign media journalists

Details: CNN asked Peskov if he could comment on the numbers of Russian casualties reported on the Komsomolskaya Pravda website.

Peskov replied: "No, I can't. Here we have to ask Komsomolskaya Pravda."

Details: A representative of Komsomolskaya Pravda said that the site was allegedly hacked and that data on 10,000 Russian soldiers in Ukraine had appeared on the page for "literally a few minutes."

 A CNN journalist, in turn, asked a Kremlin spokesman how close these figures are to reality.

Peskov replied that it was the prerogative of the Ministry of Defence to announce the number of casualties.

Putin's spokesman said: "From the beginning we agreed that we have no information, no authority to announce it during a military operation."

Background

Information was published on the Russian website Komsomolskaya Pravda that 9,861 Russian soldiers had been killed and 16,153 injured in the war in Ukraine. This information was on the website for 24 hours, but then disappeared.

The publication was referring to the data of the Ministry of Defence of Russia, although the agency’s briefing did not provide such information. This fragment was later removed.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion into Ukraine, Russia's losses have amounted to more than 15,000 troops, more than 5,000 tanks and 99 aircraft.