Kremlin hides its losses in Donbas and Syria as USSR did in Afghanistan - Poroshenko

Soviet propaganda concealed information about the casualties of the Soviet Union during the war in Afghanistan in the same way as the Kremlin now classifies data about its losses in Donbas and Syria, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.

He said this at an event in Kyiv to mark the 30th anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"The losses of comrades [during the war in Afghanistan] were kept in strict secrecy, in the same way as the Kremlin now silences and classifies data about its losses in Donbas and in Syria," Poroshenko said.

He emphasized that the Soviet authorities had already worked out the techniques of the information warfare that are being used today against Ukrainian citizens.

"That war occupies a special place in the memory of our people. Some 160,000 Ukrainians passed through the Afghan war," the president said.

Earlier, Ukraine's SBU Security Service unveiled yet another proof of the Russian authorities' concealing the massive losses of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Private Military Company in other countries.

On February 15, Ukraine marks the day of honoring participants in hostilities on the territory of other states.

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