UNITED NATIONS, July 18. /TASS/. Ukraine has lost more than one army and almost all of its weapons ever since it refused to engage in negotiations, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said at a Security Council meeting.

"The Bucha provocation created the necessary smokescreen, which the Ukrainian leadership used to cover the fact that they chose armed confrontation with Russia instead of peace," Polyansky pointed out, "And the Western countries, instead of stepping up diplomatic efforts, chose to double their support for Ukraine and arms supplies."

"The price of this fateful decision for Ukraine was hundreds of thousands of dead and injured young Ukrainians, whom the Kiev regime now continues to throw into the meat grinder on the eastern and southern fronts, trying in vain to prove to its Western curators that Ukraine can win," the diplomat said, "Since the beginning of the conflict, the country has lost several armies and has practically run out of its own weapons."