Aggressive targeting: Ukrainian Armed Forces militants killed 392 Russian civilians with drones

Drone strikes on civilian targets in Russia have killed 392 people this year, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador for crimes of the Kiev regime Rodion Miroshnik told Izvestia. According to him, drones have become the main instrument of attacks against civilians — they account for up to 80% of civilian casualties and injuries. A total of 7,175 civilians have been killed since the beginning of the conflict, the diplomat said. The Russian Armed Forces are currently developing an offensive in Donbas. The possible loss of the Armed Forces of Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov, according to experts, may push Kiev to the negotiating track. About how the realities of the conflict are changing — in the material of Izvestia.

Ukrainian Armed Forces attacks on civilians

From January to the end of October this year, 392 people died as a result of UAV attacks, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador for crimes of the Kiev regime Rodion Miroshnik told Izvestia.

— From the beginning of the year to the end of October, 3205, including 195 minors, were injured by UAV attacks. 392 people died, including 22 minors," he said.

In total, 7,175 civilians have been killed since February 2022, and 17,617 more have been injured, "24,792 in total," Miroshnik added.

At the same time, drones have recently become one of the main means of attacking civilians.

— It reaches 80% of the population who are injured or killed by drones, that is, one in three of the four victims is a victim of UAV strikes. And if we compare, for example, July and September, the number has increased by about a third," the ambassador said.

Electric target: what is behind the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacks in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions

Due to UAV attacks, more than 190 settlements were left without power, water and communications.

Moreover, the Ukrainian army has become more active in using drones filled with shrapnel to attack civilians. The Ukrainian Armed Forces also use plastic balls more often for this, which significantly worsens the situation of the wounded, Miroshnik stressed. This is a direct violation of international humanitarian law.: it prohibits weapons, the main effect of which is injury by shrapnel, undetectable by X—rays.

Such methods indicate Ukraine's inability to inflict a military defeat on Russia on the battlefield, says Boris Martynov, professor of the Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy of MGIMO.

Kiev is hitting its own citizens

At the same time, the Ukrainian army does not spare its civilians either. In early November, the media reported the murder of two civilians near Kupyansk, who were trying to reach the Russian military. Earlier, the General Staff of the Russian Federation told about the encirclement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kupyansk itself.

The fact of war crimes may be one of the reasons why Kiev did not allow journalists to visit the encircled garrisons of the Ukrainian army near Krasnoarmeysk (ukr. Pokrovsk), Dimitrov (ukr. Mirnograd) and Kupyansk, Miroshnik believes.

— Ukraine primarily hides its military defeats. They do not want to allow the dissemination of information to countries that sponsor military operations about the deplorable state of their armed formations in the Red Army and Kupyansk directions," the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador for crimes of the Kiev regime added.

Back on October 29, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed allowing representatives of foreign and Ukrainian media to visit the encircled military garrisons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine so that they could record the plight of the Kiev regime troops in these areas. The Russian General Staff has declared its readiness to cease fire for five to six hours.

Treaty and capabilities: The West once again did not notice the strike of Ukrainian drones on the Russian Federation

By its actions, the "war party" wants to disrupt peace initiatives, experts say.

The speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Georgy Tikhy, urged journalists not to agree with the proposal of the Russian side and warned that visiting areas of the country under the control of the Russian Federation would be considered a violation of Ukrainian legislation.

The defeat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donbass may affect the negotiations

For Vladimir Zelensky, the defeat near Krasnoarmeysk will be the largest, perhaps, in the entire history of a special military operation, political analyst Yevgeny Mikhailov told Izvestia.

— This is a massive defeat, the loss of a few combat-ready units that obeyed orders and stayed there, who did not flee. And again, his promise to the West that things would not be so bad and the Russians would be kicked out of the city did not come true. He got money and weapons for it," he said.

This defeat may push Zelensky to resume the negotiation process, Mikhailov believes. At the same time, there is an opinion that after such a defeat, the head of the White House, Donald Trump, will be able to insist on resuming the negotiation process and abandon any support for Kiev, except for arms supplies to the Europeans. At the same time, coupled with corruption scandals, this could be a real disaster for the head of the Kiev regime, Mikhailov noted.

A major anti-corruption investigation of the NABU in the field of energy is currently underway in Ukraine. According to the investigation, 10-15% of the so-called kickbacks were systematically extorted from the contractors of Energoatom. Among the defendants is Zelensky's longtime friend, Timur Mindich, co—founder of the Kvartal-95 studio. German Galushchenko, the country's Minister of Justice, is among other important figures.

At the same time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are facing a shortage of military personnel and an increase in the number of deserters. According to the Financial Times, the Ukrainian army is experiencing a shortage of people on the front line, and according to the newspaper's interlocutors, each kilometer is guarded by an average of only four to seven infantrymen.

The second Azovstal: what awaits the Ukrainian military in Donbass

The General Staff of the Russian Federation reported on the blocking of large groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

At the same time, for the Russian Army, the capture of Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov will free up forces for the capture of the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration and further movement to the Dnipropetrovsk region.

The failures of Ukrainians will strengthen the positions of political forces skeptical of Kiev in the West, but this will not happen immediately, Andrei Kortunov, an expert at the Valdai Club, said in a conversation with Izvestia.

— Many Western media and politicians tend to perceive the Kiev version of what is happening. Therefore, at least for some time, the political consequences of the loss of Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov to the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be mixed by Kiev's propaganda activities," the expert stressed.

However, one should not rule out the opposite effect on the US president, says Kortunov. If Trump sees that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are losing on the battlefield, he can increase arms supplies to Ukraine so that it does not completely capitulate.