Pusilin told Rossiya 24 news television that there was heavy fighting in the western part of the city. According to the politician, the retreating Ukrainian forces are trying to cause as much damage as possible. “The enemy will spare neither the city nor its own people, whom it drives into this meat grinder,” said the leader of the region, who also promised to restore the city.
Lieutenant General Igor Konasenkov, the spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Defense, presented Monday’s war report and said that the Ukrainian armed forces had lost 530 people in the past one day, more than 290 soldiers were reported to have died in the fighting in the Donetsk region.
According to the general, the Russian army destroyed, among other things, two control points and an ammunition depot. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that 106 Russian prisoners of war were able to return home from Ukrainian captivity on Monday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that so far no one has made an official offer for a ceasefire for the upcoming Orthodox Easter. He reminded that the Christmas ceasefire announced unilaterally by the Russian side was not accepted by the Ukrainian side. He expressed doubt that Paris might play a mediating role between Moscow and Kyiv, as it is indirectly involved in the conflict on the side of Ukraine.
