Kiev loses over 43,000 troops in botched counteroffensive — Russia’s top brass

MOSCOW (TASS): The Ukrainian military has lost over 43,000 troops and about 5,000 items of military hardware, including 26 combat aircraft and 25 Leopard tanks since it launched its counteroffensive, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Friday.

“The Ukrainian army’s losses in combat operations already exceeded 43,000 personnel in June-July since the Kiev regime launched its so-called offensive,” the spokesman said.

These figures do not include those wounded and foreign mercenaries evacuated to Ukrainian military hospitals and abroad, and also the personnel eliminated as a result of high-precision strikes by Russian long-range weapons in rear areas, the general said.

In addition, Russian forces have destroyed about 5,000 various Ukrainian armaments since the start of Kiev’s counteroffensive, he said.

“Over 4,900 items of the Ukrainian army’s various armament, including 26 aircraft, nine helicopters, 1,831 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, among them 25 German-made Leopard tanks, seven French AMX wheeled tanks and 21 American Bradley infantry fighting vehicles have been destroyed at the frontline,” the spokesman said.

The enemy has also lost 747 field artillery guns and mortars, including 76 US-made M777 artillery systems, and also 84 motorized artillery guns from Poland, the United States, France and Germany, the general reported.
Kiev’s aborted counteroffensive

As the Russian Defense Ministry reported, the Ukrainian army has been making unsuccessful offensive attempts since June 4. Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that Ukrainian troops had failed to achieve success in any of the frontline areas. At a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in St. Petersburg on July 23, the Russian leader said that Kiev’s counteroffensive had failed.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov admitted in an interview with CNN that the counteroffensive was falling behind schedule, explaining this by a shortage of ammunition and air defense systems. Ukrainian Air Force Spokesman Yury Ignat pointed to Russia’s electronic warfare supremacy as one of the causes of Kiev’s stalling counteroffensive.