MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) - The losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region over the three months of combat action have exceeded the ones over the past year, but they were ordered to hold out there at least until the U.S. presidential election, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"They came to the Kursk region. The losses are colossal. Over the three months of combat action they have exceeded the ones of the Kiev regime over the past year. Over 30,000 [troops]," Putin said at a plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost about 200 tanks in the Kursk region, while they lost "about 240 tanks" over the past year, he said.
"And why do they stay there [in the Kursk region] sustaining such losses? This is because they were ordered from over the ocean to hold out at any cost, right at any cost, at least until the election to show that all efforts of the Democratic administration, the [U.S.] Democratic Party, on the Ukrainian track were not in vain. To hold out no matter what, at any cost, this is the price. A horrible tragedy both for the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian army," Putin said.
These decisions were dictated "to put it honestly by political considerations rather than military ones," he said.