Reznikov: Snipers killed 43 Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas in 2021
Snipers from Russia’s proxy forces killed 43 Ukrainian servicemen in the Donbas region in 2021, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told his Danish counterpart Trine Bramsen at a meeting on Dec. 18.
According to Reznikov, Russian proxy forces use sniper killings to provoke return artillery fire by Ukrainian forces. And as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe special monitoring mission (OSCE SMM) cannot identify the location or identity of snipers, Ukraine’s use of artillery is the best tactic for suppressing them, he said.
“And the insidiousness of the Russian troops is precisely in that their snipers quietly fire shots, kill our soldiers, and our military responds with mortar or artillery fire, respectively,” he said.
The OSCE SMM then records a ceasefire violation by the Ukrainian armed forces, the minister said.
“And then the Russians on every one of their televisions scream that it’s Ukraine that’s violating the Minsk agreements,” he added.
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