Russia’s permanent representative to the UN has insisted Moscow is making progress in
Ukraine and the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions will be “liberated ... very soon”.
Vasily Nebenzya was interviewed for the BBC’s
HardTalk where host Steven Sackur grilled the official on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“After 100 days of armed conflict, can you say that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is going according to plan?” Sackur asked. Nebenzya replied:
It seems to me that there is progress. No one promised a result in three days or a week.
Now some experts assure that the Russian military operation has stalled and is going much slower than planned. But there is progress, it continues, and it’s clear as day.”
Sackur pressed: “Do you admit that the original plan to take over Kyiv and install a pro-Russian regime there has completely failed?”
“I don’t know anything about such plans,” Nebenzya said, noting that no one from the Russian command had ever said out loud that Moscow intended to take control of Kyiv by installing a puppet government there.
“The scale of your losses over the past 100 days is amazing. People living in Russia would be absolutely shocked by these figures if they knew about them,” Sakur continued.
Nebenzia said any losses could not be confirmed.
“As I said, they are not officially disclosed, and in the course of any conflict, the parties tend to greatly inflate each other’s losses. I cannot tell you the numbers and I cannot comment that Ukraine or the US are talking about it there.”
Sakur responded that in more than 100 days in, the conflict has seemingly reached a stalemate. “You still haven’t taken Sievierodonetsk. You can’t even take Luhansk in its entirety, not to mention the entire Donbas. If this, in your opinion, is progress, then I’m very interested: What exactly is the plan, anyway?”
According to the Russian permanent representative, the main goal now is the liberation of Donbas. “Just give it time ... and you will see the Donetsk and Luhansk regions liberated. And, I hope, this will happen very soon.”