Russian State TV Bemoans That 'Europeans Didn't Freeze' This Winter
A Russian state television host complained that "Europeans didn't freeze" this winter after energy prices on the continent skyrocketed due to international sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war and President Vladimir Putin's army attack on the country's critical energy infrastructure.
After experiencing stalled progress on the battlefield, Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure for several months. Russia on Thursday launched fresh missile strikes on critical infrastructure in Lviv, in western Ukraine, away from the frontlines in the east.
Speaking on Russian state TV this week, 60 Minutes host Olga Skabeyeva discussed the "problem" of this winter being warmer than usual. Skabeyeva has been nicknamed the "Iron Doll of Putin TV" and "propagandist-in-chief" due to her criticism of opposition to the Kremlin.
"Europeans didn't freeze, and we really hoped for that," she said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, calling it "a special military operation." Skabeyeva said that as part of the special operation, Russia "are the only ones who live by the law."
"For everyone else, the laws are not written, they have sabotage every day," she said, before showing a photo of what she said was an American ship full of weaponry for Ukraine to use against Russia reaching Germany.
"What is the reason why this American ship was able to reach Germany with impunity and safety?" she said.
A guest on the show, Russian State Duma member Aleksey Zhuravlyov, said that Russia had already "gone further than achieving" some of its goals of the special military operation.
"That's to say, we've demilitarised Ukraine 100 percent! There's no weaponry at all there, not even a whiff of it!" Zhuravlyov said. "What's more, all of the weapons which were supplied by the Soviet Union [to the former Eastern Bloc] were taken to Ukraine, and we again demilitarized them!"
"And now, are we starting the demilitarization of NATO, or what? Because there are no longer any weapons there! So it turns out that previously we were chronically lagging behind, but now we're chronically ahead. And of course, we'll achieve the other goals of the special operation."
Newsweek reached out to Ukraine's foreign ministry for comment.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, NATO ministers are meeting for the second day in Brussels, Belgium, to discuss support for Ukraine, with the provision of tanks expected to be high on the agenda.
Speaking to the BBC before the talks, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said that 97 percent of the Russian Army was estimated to be fighting in Ukraine. He added that Russia had not been able to "punch throw" Ukraine's defenses.
