Putin's master level trolling: Ukraine's govt should not keep its troops from surrendering
Pro-Russia forces should allow Ukrainian government troops safe passage out of the encircled town of Debaltseve while the Ukrainian authorities should not prevent them from surrendering, Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday in Budapest. He also accused the West of sending weapons to Kyiv.
“I really hope that the respective leaders in the Ukrainian government won’t prevent Ukrainian soldiers from laying down their arms, and if they’re not in the position to make that responsible decision and give such order, in any case won’t prosecute people who want to save their lives and lives of others,” Mr. Putin said shortly after making business concessions to the Kremlin-friendly Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban who defended Moscow’s role in Europe.
Putin also said he hoped the representatives of the unrecognised Luhansk, Donetsk republic would not hold Ukrainian captives.
“To lose is always painful. It’s a hardship especially when you lose to yesterday’s miners and tractor drivers. But life is life, and it is going on,” the Russian president, who agreed on on a ceasefire in Ukraine last Thursday, said.
Deliveries of weapons to Ukraine’s army will only lead to a greater loss of lives in the conflict between Kyiv and pro-Moscow separatists, Putin added. He said Russia had already ‘got information’ on U.S. supplying Ukraine with arms.
Fierce fighting for the strategic town of Debaltseve has continued despite a cease-fire agreement brokered by Germany and France last week.
