Russian Lawmaker Says Eliminating Ukrainians the 'Only' Solution

Russian State Duma member Mikhail Sheremet said on Thursday that it is hard to "negotiate" with Ukrainians and that eliminating them is the "only" way forward for the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

"Given the damage that they cause to [our] infrastructure, and [the harm] to the lives and well-being of our citizens, they must only be eliminated," said Sheremet, who is a member of the Duma Security and Anti-Corruption Committee, Russian news agency Tass reported.

Sheremet's remarks come in reference to Ukraine's recent counteroffensive against Russia, including an explosion Saturday on a bridge that links Russia to Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and is crucial to providing supplies to Russian troops.

Russia on Monday responded to the attack on the bridge by launching a series of operations that struck civilians, destroyed buildings, caused a blackout, hit water facilities and resulted in 14 deaths, the Associated Press reported.

The Russian attacks were launched from the air, land and sea in at least 14 regions, including Lviv and Kharkiv, and injured around 100 people, according to Ukraine's emergency service.

Moscow claimed that missiles hit energy and military facilities, but some civilian areas were hit, including a playground in downtown Kyiv and a university, according to the AP.

Sheremet on Thursday said that the recent attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure indicated that it is not necessary for Russia to protect itself by using nuclear weapons, according to Tass.

"A full-blown response [to Ukraine] is yet to come. Now, it's ongoing. It's systemic work that will take more than one day. And if our adversaries provoked us to use nuclear weapons, then Russia has demonstrated to everyone that it has serious trump cards in its hand and there is absolutely no need to use nuclear weapons in order to resolve issues related to ensuring the security of its territory and citizens," the lawmaker said.

In response to the Russian strikes, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Andriy Yermak, said that the attacks had "no practical military sense" and that they caused "humanitarian catastrophe," according to the AP. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that "precision weapons" were used in retaliation for Ukraine's "terrorist" actions.

Sheremet is not the only one to suggest the elimination of Ukrainians. Russian activist Pavel Gubarev, who was born in Ukraine, threatened in a video to kill Ukrainians who don't support Russia.

"We aren't coming to kill you, but to convince you," Gubarev, who is self-proclaimed as "people's governor" of Donetsk, said in a video shared by Julia Davis, a journalist and creator of the watchdog group Russian Media Monitor. "But if you don't want to be convinced, we'll kill you. We'll kill as many as we have to: 1 million, 5 million, or exterminate all of you."

In response to Gubarev's remarks, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis retweeted the video and wrote: "Let me get this straight: sign up immediately or the genocide starts. Most unconvincing argument I've ever heard."

Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian and Russian foreign affairs ministries.