New Delhi: While dismissing claims of a massacre in the town of Bucha as "a well-staged insinuation", Russian soldiers have endured "significant losses" in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
In an interview with Britain's Sky News, he said the tactical losses were "a huge tragedy for us" yet didn't specify a toll. Russia in late March said it had lost 1,351 troops with another 3,825 injured.
Meanwhile, the 193-member United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution on Thursday suspending Russia from the world body's Human Rights Council even as India abstained from voting.
While 93 countries voted in favour of the resolution, 24 countries voted against it and 58 countries abstained. Russia's current membership of the UNHRC was supposed to end in December 2023.
ALSO READ: UN General Assembly Suspends Russia From Human Rights Council, India Abstains From Voting
No permanent member of the UN Security Council has ever had its membership revoked from any organ of the world body, PTI reported.
The vote was initiated by the US after harrowing images emerged of corpses strewn across the streets of the Ukrainian city Bucha last week. A mass grave in the town was also found, with residents saying they believe at least 400 people were buried there.
"India has abstained on the resolution with regard to the suspension of the Russian Federation from the Human Rights Council adopted in the UN General Assembly today," said TS Tirumurti, India's Permanent Representative to UN.
"Since the inception of the Ukrainian conflict, India has stood for peace, dialogue and diplomacy. We believe that no solution can be arrived at by shedding blood and at the cost of innocent lives. If India has chosen any side, it is the side of peace and it is for an immediate end to violence," TS Tirumurti said.