Putin tells mothers of soldiers fighting in Ukraine: ‘We share your pain’

“We understand that nothing can replace the loss of a son – especially for a mother,” Putin said, breathing heavily, and frequently clearing his throat. “We share this pain.”

The mothers listened to Putin’s remarks but their own comments to the president were not immediately shown in the recorded television clip.

Putin has said he has no regrets about launching what he calls Russia’s “special military operation” against Ukraine and casts the war as a watershed moment when Russia finally stood up to an arrogant Western hegemony after decades of humiliation in the years since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.

Ukraine and the West say Putin has no justification for what they cast as an imperial-style war of occupation. Ukraine says it will fight until the last Russian soldier is ejected from its territory.

Ukraine does not disclose its losses. Russia last publicly disclosed its losses on September 21, when Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said 5,937 Russian soldiers had been killed. But that number is far below most international estimates.

The United States’ top general estimated on November 9 that Russia and Ukraine had each seen more than 100,000 of their soldiers killed or wounded.