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Kiev sacrificing its troops to prove mettle ahead of NATO summit — Russian lawmaker

Leonid Slutsky declares that Kiev continues to act like this even after "absolutely unambiguous statements" from the NATO and US leadership

LDPR Leader and Russian State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Leonid Slutsky Mikhail Metzel/TASS

LDPR Leader and Russian State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Leonid Slutsky

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

MOSCOW, July 7. /TASS/. Kiev is trying to show some semblance of military success ahead of a NATO summit but its only option is "to throw troops into the fire," Leonid Slutsky, leader of Russia’s Liberal Democratic Party and head of the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) Committee on International Affairs, said on Friday.

"The Kiev regime is trying to demonstrate at least some success on the battlefield in order to justify the investment of its Western sponsors, particularly ahead of the NATO summit. However, the junta’s efforts have been futile as the counter-offensive is failing and stalling. This is why Kiev has no choice but to literally throw troops into the fire," Slutsky told TASS.

According to him, Kiev continues to act like this even after "absolutely unambiguous statements" from the NATO and US leadership that "no one wants Ukraine to join the alliance and there is no way for it to get equal membership."

"Notably, NATO also needs the counter-offensive to provide the leaders of Western countries with an opportunity to make excuses for empty military depots. However, there can be only one outcome, with all the much-praised equipment meeting its ignominious end in the steppes of Donbass," Slutsky stressed.

NATO will hold its summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on July 11-12. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has been invited to attend along with the leaders of a number of other non-member states. Security guarantees for Ukraine and the prospects for the country’s NATO membership are among the issues that are expected to be discussed at the summit.

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Ukraine crisis United States Leonid Slutsky NATO Military operation in Ukraine

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