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Kremlin says city blockades by nationalists make it hard to count casualties in Ukraine

Dmitry Peskov said the Russian Defense Ministry also reports data, but he didn’t disclose them, referring further inquiries to the ministry

MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that the exact number of civilian casualties in Ukraine is hard to assess because Ukrainian nationalist battalions are blocking many cities.

"Of course, in the conditions of a special operation, in the conditions that many cities are blocked, with all these nationalist battalions not letting people out of there, it is very difficult to understand the ultimate picture of possible losses," he said.

"Certainly, we see all the information that comes from the UN and so on," Peskov said. "It’s all reported [to Russian President Vladimir Putin], but we don’t know to what extend it corresponds to the real state of affairs."

He said the Russian Defense Ministry also reports data, but he didn’t disclose them, referring further inquiries to the ministry.

On Tuesday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that from 04:00 on February 24 to 24:00 on March 7 (local time), 1,335 civilian casualties were recorded in Ukraine. Of them, 474 people were killed and 861 were injured.

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