This also happens to be 'Russia Day,' - whatever that is, so the hapless US Secretary of State offered congratulations to Putin and the Russian people, without evidently having been briefed on the sad irony. JL
Julia Struck reports in the Kyiv Post:
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated the Russian people on Russia Day, June 12, while Russian military losses in the war against Ukraine surpassed one million killed and wounded. His remarks came as Ukraine’s General Staff reported - and were confirmed by British intellligence - that Russia’s total combat losses since the start of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022 exceeded 1,000,340. More than 628,000 of Russia’s total losses occurred in the past year and a half alone. Over the past 24 hours, from June 11 to 12, Russia reportedly lost 1,140 soldiers.