Russia has announced "losses from the Armed Forces of Ukraine" in Donbas and in the border regions of the Russian Federation amounting to more than 706 billion rubles (approximately $9 billion). These figures were announced by the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin.
Points of attention
- Russia's announcement of “losses from the Armed Forces of Ukraine” in Donbas is a deceptive manipulation to blame Ukraine for the consequences of its own armed aggression.
- The deliberate erasure of the causal link by Russia regarding 'losses from the AFU' in Donbas aims to create a pseudo-legal reality and transform the aggressor into a “victim”.
Russia manipulates "losses from the Armed Forces of Ukraine" in Donbas
The key manipulation in this statement is the deliberate erasure of the causal link. Until 2014, there were no “damages from the Armed Forces of Ukraine” in Donbas. There was no large-scale destruction and thousands of dead people. All this appeared only after the invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine.
Russia is creating a pseudo-legal reality in which the aggressor is supposedly transformed into a “victim.” The Kremlin is trying to hold Ukraine accountable for the consequences of its own armed aggression.
Such statements indicate that Russia is preparing for the long-term decline of the occupied territories. By shifting responsibility for the large-scale destruction to Ukraine, the Russian Federation justifies the lack of reconstruction, social collapse, and general degradation of the region.
