The West is using Ukraine as a battering ram to inflict "strategic defeat" on Russia after Moscow took countermeasures to the expansion of NATO to the east, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday at the 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum.
"<…> the White House persistently pursued the expansion of NATO, which it controls, to the east. <…> In response, the West openly took a course to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia in the hybrid war unleashed against us. Ukraine was cynically chosen as a battering ram, which is assigned the role of consumable material," Shoigu said.
Ukraine Lost More Than 90,000 Servicemen Since Beginning of Counteroffensive - Shoigu
Ukraine's armed forces have lost more than 90,000 servicemen killed and wounded during the counteroffensive that was launched this summer, and has not achieved any significant battlefield successes, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum.
"Since <…> beginning of the widely publicized Ukrainian counteroffensive that has been so generously supported by the West - Kiev has lost more than 90,000 servicemen killed and wounded, about 600 tanks and almost 1,900 armored vehicles of various classes. At the same time, no tactically significant successes have been achieved on the battlefield," Shoigu said.
The Russian military will continue to "methodically and confidently" carry out its tasks in the special military operation zone, the Russian defense minister added.
Ukraine launched its latest counteroffensive in early June. Three months later, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had failed, with Ukraine suffering 71,000 casualties. Several Western officials have also been forced to admit that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had not been successful.