meanwhile
Vladimir Putin, the president of the Russian Federation, has pretended he has nothing to do with the deaths of Russian soldiers in the war he had waged, comparing losses on the front line to deaths from road accidents and alcohol.
Quote from Putin: "Of course, this is a huge tragedy [the death of a relative - ed.]. It is a void that cannot be filled with anything when a loved one is gone, especially a son.
But you know what comes to my mind: in our country, about 30,000 people die in road accidents, nearly the same number die from alcohol. Unfortunately, it happens. This is how life works. Life is complex and multifaceted, more complicated than can be written somewhere on paper.
We are all under the Lord, under Allah, under Christ, I don't know, everyone who believes in higher powers, it doesn't matter what religion a person adheres to: we are all mortal, we are all under the Lord. And someday we will all leave this world. It is inevitable. The question is how we lived."