RUSSIAN forces have wiped out 16 German-made Leopard tanks, amounting to 100% of the armoury supplied to the Kiev regime by Poland and Portugal, Russia’s Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu told a conference call with military commanders on Monday.
‘In the south Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Donetsk directions alone, where Ukrainian armed formations are undertaking unsuccessful attacks, the groupings of Russian forces destroyed 15 aircraft, three helicopters and 920 pieces of armour, including 16 Leopard tanks.
‘This is actually 100% of the tanks of this type supplied by Poland and Portugal,’ the defence chief said.
The Russian armed forces continue to inflict damage on the enemy by firepower, which considerably diminishes its offensive potential, Shoigu said.
In all, Ukrainian troops have lost about 2,500 various armaments in all directions since June 4th.
In addition, Russian air defence forces have intercepted 158 rockets of the US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system and 25 Storm Shadow cruise missiles over the past month.
The enemy has not achieved its objectives in any of the frontline sectors, which testifies to the skills of Russian fighters and ‘clearly too high expectations from much-touted Western weapons,’ Shoigu said.
Ukrainian troops have been employing German-made Leopard tanks since they launched their much heralded counteroffensive on June 4th.
The Russian Defence Ministry has repeatedly reported the destruction of these tanks.
Ukrainian forces also lost more than 30 troops, two howitzers and several more artillery guns in an attempted crossing of the Dnieper River last Monday, Kherson Region Interim Governor Vladimir Saldo said on Rossiya-24 television.
‘There are data on enemy losses: more than 30 servicemen, two US-provided howitzers, several artillery guns and self-propelled artillery guns,’ he said.
‘And of course, a large number of boats. More and more boats lie at the bottom of the Dnieper.’
Russian forces control the situation near the Antonovsky Bridge in the Kherson Region, thwarting Ukrainian troops’ attempts to cross the Dnieper River in small groups, the region’s Acting Governor Vladimir Saldo told TASS.
‘The enemy seeks to remotely booby-trap the approaches to our positions on the left bank and cross the river in small groups on individual boats.
‘Despite the enemy’s artillery fire, our fighters promptly conduct demining activities and use artillery to sink vessels.
‘For instance, last night, our artillery units sank a boat with troops in the middle of the Dnieper; no one survived,’ Saldo said.
He noted that Russian forces ‘continue to strengthen their positions on the left bank and reinforce them with firepower, hitting the enemy’s positions on the right bank with artillery and retaliating by booby-trapping the approaches to the Antonovsky Bridge.’
Saldo added, citing information from a spokesman for the Dnieper Battlegroup, that ‘the situation is difficult’ but ‘totally controllable’.
‘I would like to point out to our people that they should only trust official reports. No media outlets have access to reliable and complete information on any issue and they often draw unfounded alarmist conclusions from unverified and fragmented data,’ the acting governor concluded.
Ukrainian forces have attempted to attack near the town of Orekhovo in the Zaporozhye Region every day but have not succeeded, the region’s interim governor Yevgeny Balitsky said.
‘The situation in the Orekhovo area remains tense. Our positions are attacked every day. The enemy proceeds forcefully, but does not spare its soldiers,’ he said on Telegram.
‘Our defences are very strong. Our servicemen are not just holding the line, but they are smashing the enemy in all areas, periodically throwing the enemy back and suppressing sabotage and reconnaissance groups.’
According to Balitsky, Ukrainian troops have had no success in their counteroffensive in the Zaporozhye Region.
‘The enemy has no achievements. Not sparing their soldiers, they are trying to gain at least some small victory to report to the West.
‘An imitation of military operations, in which Kiev suffers staggering losses,’ he said.
The Russian Defence Ministry said Ukrainian forces had been making unsuccessful attempts at an offensive since June 4th.
On June 22, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said that Ukrainian losses had exceeded 13,000 servicemen since the start of the counteroffensive. Russian President Vladimir Putin also said that Ukrainian troops have had no success in any area.
Two private houses caught fire in the village of Belaya Berezka in Russia’s Bryansk Region, which borders Ukraine, after a shelling attack by Ukrainian troops, the region’s governor, Alexander Bogomaz, said on Monday.
‘According to preliminary data, two residential houses caught fire as a result of shelling,’ he wrote on his Telegram channel, adding that no one was injured.
The village of Belaya Berezka, which has a population of 5,500, is located some 2.5 kilometres from the border with Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military fired about 140 munitions at settlements in the Belgorod Region, which also borders Ukraine, and dropped several explosives from drones on Sunday, Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel on Monday.
‘In the Grayvoronsky urban district, the outskirts of the settlement of Gorkovsky were shelled from a mortar, with four mortar rounds fired. The village of Dronovka was shelled by 17 mortar rounds, including 14 shells that hit the village’s outskirts.
‘The enemy also dropped an explosive from a drone. An electric power transmission line, a gas pipeline and a communications infrastructural facility were damaged. Various damage was registered at four households where the roofing, a fence and windows were hit.
‘On the outskirts of the village of Novostroyevka-Vtoraya, an explosive was dropped from a drone,’ the governor said.
In the Belgorod district, 12 artillery shells were fired at the village of Shchetinovka on July 2nd and the settlement was also shelled by 20 grenade launcher rounds.
The Ukrainian military dropped two explosives from drones in the village of Krasny Khutor and fired five artillery shells against the settlement of Nekhoteyevka, the governor said.
In the Borisovsky district, five explosives were dropped from Ukrainian drones on the outskirts of the settlement of Lozovaya Rudka and two on the outskirts of the village of Tsapovka.
In the Volokonovsky district, the Ukrainian military fired 48 mortar rounds against the outskirts of the village of Stariy and two artillery shells at the outskirts of the village of Tishanka, he said.
In the Krasnoyaruzhsky district, a Ukrainian kamikaze drone attacked the outskirts of the village of Staroselye.
The regional governor reported: ‘In the Shebekino urban district, 17 mortar rounds were fired at the village of Pervomaisky, eight at the village of Terezovka, four at the settlement of Maryino and one at the settlement of Mukhin.
‘There are no injuries or destruction in any of the settlements of the urban district as a result of the shelling,’ he said.
