The European Commission is not going to apologize for the deleted message about 100,000 killed Ukrainian soldiers, EC Spokesperson Dana Spinant said at a press conference in Brussels, Report informs.
There was no need for an apology, we explained the context and reasons on social networks. We are achieving common goals with Ukraine, including in investigating the crimes of this aggression and prosecuting them, she said.
Earlier, Spinant said that the video with the statement of the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen about the Ukrainian military killed during the hostilities was edited due to inaccuracy.
On November 30, Ursula von der Leyen’s Twitter posted a video message, which originally contained an estimate of the number of killed Ukrainian military - more than 100,000 people. Soon the video was replaced - on the new one, the figure disappeared, and at 11 seconds signs of video merger became visible.
Von der Leyen generally devoted the appeal to a plan to confiscate frozen assets and create a special tribunal to punish Russia. The politician said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought death, devastation and untold suffering, adding that more than 20,000 civilians and 100,000 Ukrainian military were killed in Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities have previously cited significantly lower numbers of military casualties and noted that it is impossible to establish the exact number of those killed - in particular, due to the occupation of cities such as Mariupol.