Kremlin says Putin ordered to refrain from storming big cities in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to refrain from storming Ukraine’s big cities for fear of great losses among civilians, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow on Monday, Peskov said “nationalist units deploy tanks, artillery, rocket launchers in residential areas,” drawing the combat actions to these areas, but the Russian special operation was planned considering this circumstance.

Peskov blasted as “provocative” the remarks by US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who alleged that Putin was “disappointed” about the lack of progress in capturing the big cities.

“The mentioned top officials of the US and the EU, apparently, are pushing Russia to storm major cities of Ukraine in order to hold our country responsible for the deaths of civilians. We believe that such a position is provocative.

“At the beginning of the operation, the Russian president did instruct the Defense Ministry to refrain from immediately storming large settlements, including Kyiv, due to the fact that armed nationalist formations are equipping firing points, placing heavy military equipment directly in residential areas.

“Fighting in densely populated areas will inevitably lead to heavy civilian casualties. And the operation was planned with this circumstance in mind,” he said.

Peskov added that “the whole world knows the ruthless style of the American authorities, who do not care about the lives of civilians to achieve their goals.”

“Everyone remembers the carpet bombing of the former Yugoslavia, rocket attacks on the center of Belgrade, multiple, unjustified victims in the Middle East, crimes committed over 20 years in Afghanistan, when hundreds of people were killed at weddings and in residential buildings with one blow.

“We do not need the advice of such strategists,” he said.

Peskov noted that the terms of Russia’s special military operation are left unsaid, adding it “is developing according to the plan, will be finished in term and in full.”

The spokesman also denied the reports that Russia requested China’s military assistance in Ukraine.

- Russia takes steps to minimize effect of economic sanctions

Peskov also said the Russian government is taking steps to minimize the consequences "of the economic war declared to Russia" by the West.

“There are all grounds that the consequences of this economic war will be minimized,” he stressed.

The spokesman admitted that the IT sector is very important and vulnerable and said the authorities took some measures to support it as well.

As for unblocking American IT platform Meta, comprising, among other things, social networks Facebook and Instagram, Peskov said this will hardly happen after it made some “unpleasant mistakes.”

Last week, Russia banned access to Facebook and Instagram after their parent company Meta changed rules to allow calls for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers on its platforms amid the Russia-Ukraine war that began on Feb. 24, and has drawn international condemnation.

The war also led to financial sanctions on Moscow and spurred an exodus of global firms from Russia.

At least 596 civilians have been killed and 1,067 injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, according to the UN, while noting that conditions on the ground make it difficult to verify the true number.

Some 2.8 million people have also fled to neighboring countries, said the UN refugee agency.