Russia stated that its troops continue to advance in Ukraine, after the President of the United States, Donald Trump, issued a ten-day ultimatum to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to reach a peace agreement.
“The units of the Eastern troop formation continued their advance into the depth of the enemy’s defense,” the Russian Ministry of Defense stated on its Telegram channel.
According to the official, Russian forces caused casualties and military equipment losses to four mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as to two territorial defense brigades and one of the National Guard of Ukraine.
Defense specified that these actions took place in the territory of the Donetsk region, annexed by Russia in September 2022, and in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region.
Divergent Ukrainian casualty figures
The Russian military command highlighted that the other troop formations, which are operating in the northern, central, and southern fronts, have improved their positions. In total, according to the Defense Ministry, in the past twenty-four hours, Ukrainian forces suffered around 1,500 casualties, including dead and wounded.
According to the information provided by that department on Telegram, for example, the Russian Armed Forces launched an attack the day before with two Iskander-M tactical missiles against a training center of the Ukrainian Army. “According to military intelligence data, the Ukrainian Armed Forces suffered about 200 casualties, including dead and wounded,” states the military report.
The missiles, one of them equipped with a cluster warhead, hit a training camp of the strategic reserve troops of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Chernihiv region, north of Kiev, according to the Russian source.
The Ukrainian Army acknowledged last night that Russia attacked a training center for its ground forces on Tuesday, but reported the number of casualties as 3 dead and 18 wounded.
Ultimatums “are not effective for conflict resolution”
Today, the Kremlin also did not flinch in the face of Trump’s newest ultimatum to stop the war in Ukraine. “We continue to register all the statements made by President Trump,” said Dmitry Peskov, the presidential spokesperson, during his daily telephone press conference. When pressed by journalists, he added, “I cannot say anything more.”
In reference to the secondary sanctions and tariffs that Trump threatened Russia with, he assured that his country has developed “some immunity.”
Meanwhile, from Geneva, the President of the Senate, Valentina Matviyenko, stated that ultimatums “are not a very effective method for conflict resolution.” “If we issue, as you say, ultimatums, then we should address them to the Ukrainian side, as they are the ones sabotaging the peace negotiations,” she said.
Putin, for his part, has not made any reference to the American ultimatums in the last three weeks.