Shoigu says Russians engaged in ‘active defense’ in Ukraine: No option but to win

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday that Russian forces were engaged in an “active defense” against Ukrainian troops’ counter-offensive and there was “no other options” but to win in Ukraine.

Shoigu said Moscow had no other choice but to achieve victory in its “special military operation” (the Russian label for their invasion of Ukraine). “We have no other options,” he said according to state news agency TASS.

He added that Russian forces continue to make progress with their key mission of eliminating Ukraine’s equipment and personnel.

“The troops are engaged in keeping an active defense where needed and necessary. It’s harder in some places and easier in others, but I can say that the men are acting with confidence, the commanders are acting with confidence. We are reliably defending what we need to defend today,” Shoigu stated.

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Earlier on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine’s Western allies supplying it with new weapons, including cluster munitions, depleted uranium ammunition and F-16 fighters, will not change the situation at the battlefront.

He claimed the Ukrainians lost more than 70,000 personnel since the beginning of the counter-offensive. He said: “Ukraine is carrying out a so-called counter-offensive. But there are no results… There are losses, large ones. Since the beginning of the counter-offensive, the loss of personnel is 71 thousand people.”

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