- Dec 29, 2008
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On Saturday, Russian officials claimed that Ukraine had, in fact, been demilitarized—in line with the goals of Moscow's invasion of the Eastern European nation—despite clear and significant evidence to the contrary.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine began nearly 16 months ago in February 2022 and has persisted far longer than Kremlin leadership reportedly anticipated. At the start of the conflict, Russia cited a handful of justifications that were swiftly scrutinized as dubious by experts, including claims that it sought to "denazify" the Ukrainian government and that Russian speakers were being discriminated against in Eastern Ukraine.
Another claim made frequently by Russia as the invasion continues has been about the need to demilitarize Ukraine. On Saturday, the Russian state-run news agency, Tass, reported on claims from Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov that Ukraine had been effectively demilitarized. The claim struck an odd chord, given that Ukraine has arguably more military hardware than ever before thanks to international aid. In attempting to make the argument, Peskov said the goal had still been accomplished since Ukraine is now utilizing less of its own hardware.
"Indeed, Ukraine was heavily militarized at the time of the start of the [special military operation]," Peskov told RT Arabic. "And, as [Russian President Vladimir] Putin said yesterday, one of the tasks was the demilitarization of Ukraine. In fact, this task has been largely completed. Ukraine uses less of its own weapons. And more and more it uses weapons systems that Western countries supply to it."
Maybe it sounds different in Russian.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine began nearly 16 months ago in February 2022 and has persisted far longer than Kremlin leadership reportedly anticipated. At the start of the conflict, Russia cited a handful of justifications that were swiftly scrutinized as dubious by experts, including claims that it sought to "denazify" the Ukrainian government and that Russian speakers were being discriminated against in Eastern Ukraine.
Another claim made frequently by Russia as the invasion continues has been about the need to demilitarize Ukraine. On Saturday, the Russian state-run news agency, Tass, reported on claims from Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov that Ukraine had been effectively demilitarized. The claim struck an odd chord, given that Ukraine has arguably more military hardware than ever before thanks to international aid. In attempting to make the argument, Peskov said the goal had still been accomplished since Ukraine is now utilizing less of its own hardware.
"Indeed, Ukraine was heavily militarized at the time of the start of the [special military operation]," Peskov told RT Arabic. "And, as [Russian President Vladimir] Putin said yesterday, one of the tasks was the demilitarization of Ukraine. In fact, this task has been largely completed. Ukraine uses less of its own weapons. And more and more it uses weapons systems that Western countries supply to it."
Kremlin bizarrely claims goal of demilitarizing Ukraine "largely completed"
Russian officials are split on whether Ukraine's increasing supply of foreign military hardware as opposed to its own counts as "demilitarization."
www.newsweek.com
Maybe it sounds different in Russian.