The Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation announced the deliberate slowing down of the military campaign in Ukraine “in order to avoid casualties among the civilian population.” Shoigu made this cynical claim on August 24th, during a meeting of defense ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan. “Everything is being done to avoid casualties among the civilian population. Of course, this slows down the pace of the offensive, but we do it deliberately.”
Reminder: this is not the first time that the offensive actions of the Russian army are being “intentionally slowed down”. Previously, Moscow had already used this propaganda narrative to justify the failure of the operation in Kyiv and surrounding territories, as well as in the withdrawal of troops from Zmiiny Island.