Some members of the Russian army in Mariupol.
About 700,000 soldiers are fighting for Russia in the Ukraine war. This is what Russian President Vladimir Putin said. Putin gave this information during a meeting with the soldiers who fought for Russia in the Ukraine war on Friday. This information is known from the report of the Russian press RT.
According to the information provided by the Russian government, in December 2023, the number of Russian troops in Ukraine was 617,000. According to that, the number of Russian troops in Ukraine is more than 100,000. In April this year, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that more than 100,000 Russian citizens have voluntarily joined the military since the beginning of the year.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin set conditions for the start of ceasefire and peace talks with Ukraine yesterday. Under the terms, Ukraine must drop hopes of joining NATO. Also, Ukrainian troops must withdraw from Russian-claimed territories before the ceasefire begins.
Speaking at a meeting with Russian ambassadors in Moscow, Putin called on the Ukrainian government to withdraw troops from the four Russian-held regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia. Putin said, “Ukraine must give up its efforts to formally join the NATO military alliance to prevent Russia’s advance.” The Russian president said that if the Ukrainian government accepts the conditions, then the moment they announce that decision, the cease-fire will begin.
In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Sky Italia, “Putin repeatedly says that he will take some of our territory.” Some of these areas they have already occupied and some are yet to be occupied. He (Putin) said then he would stop and the war would not continue.
“He was saying, ‘Give me a piece of the Czech Republic, and the war will be over,'” Zelensky said, pointing to Hitler – “but he was just lying.” Because then he claimed Poland and said, “Give me a part of Poland” and then the whole of Europe came under his control.’
At that time, comparing Putin’s attitude with Hitler, the President of Ukraine said, “This is the issue of Nazism and we cannot trust Putin for this reason.” Because, he is on the same path. Zelensky also said, “People should remember that before the war, Russia claimed only the Crimea and Donbas regions, but now it is trying to increase the area of its land occupation.”