Ukraine's permanent representative to the UN Andriy Melnyk said that the Kremlin needs to send another 1.5 million Russians to their deaths to occupy the territory of Donetsk region, which remains under Ukrainian control, UNIAN reported.
Melnyk noted that if the Russian occupiers continue their slow, “snail-like” advance along the front, "the aggressor country will have to sacrifice the lives of 122 million of its soldiers" to occupy all of Ukraine.
Ukraine's permanent representative to the UN stressed that Russia is achieving minimal territorial gains at an extremely high human cost. Melnyk called Vladimir Putin's demand that Ukraine hand over 20% of the territory of the Donetsk region controlled by the Ukrainian armed forces "blackmail."
Melnyk called on Europe and the United States to increase pressure on Russia through sanctions. He cited data showing that the recent lifting of US sanctions on Russian oil sales could bring Moscow approximately $10 billion in April alone. Ukraine's permanent representative to the UN noted that this money would be enough to produce up to half a million "Shahed" missiles.
The diplomat is confident that Russia will not be able to win the war, and even high oil prices will not help.