Over 28,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in the second month in the failing Ukrainian “counter-offensive“ with no air or artillery support, Russian Ministry of Defence Sergei Shoigu claimed. Shoigu previously put Ukrainians losses from the first month of the “counter-offensive“ at 26,000, as Gateway reported, putting the total Ukrainian dead since June 4 at 54.000. 1435 hapless Ukrainian young men died this weekend alone, according to the Russian Ministry of Defence.
“Over the past month, Ukrainian losses were up to twenty thousand eight hundred servicemen,” Shoigu claimed, speaking to the leadership of Russian Armed Forces: “20824 men and 2227 units of various weapons, to be precise, including 10 Leopard tanks, 11 U.S.-manufactured Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, 40 U.S.-manufactured M777 artillery systems and 50 self-propelled artillery systems from the U.K., the U.S., Germany, France and Poland.”
“For two days alone – 26 and 27 July – more than 400 Ukrainian servicemen, 31 tanks, including three German-manufactured Leopard and two French-manufactured tanks, as well as 32 armoured fighting vehicles were destroyed near Rabotino,” Shoigu claimed. “A total of 63 armoured vehicles were destroyed”.
“The command of the AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine) is desperately sending new troops into the assault on Russian positions”, Shoigu asserted, which was thwarted by the “competently constructed defences” of the Russian forces, he claimed. “A large-scale attempt by Ukrainian troops to break through Russian defences was thwarted in Orekhov direction.”
The Russian Ministry of Defence further claimed that 725 Ukrainian soldiers were killed on July 30 and 710 on July 31 in fighting on the South Donetsk, Zaporozhye, Krasny Liman, Kherson and Kupyansk fronts, putting the weekend death toll at 1435.
A video from Russian Ria Novosti TV claimed to show a single Russian tank in the Zaporozhye region stopping a column of 10 Ukrainian vehicles. 7 of the vehicles were destroyed by the Tank firing from the cover of a hedgerow, the rest were eliminated by artillery and Lancet drones, RT claimed. The video has not been independently verified.
According to the Russian state-controlled Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper, the Ukrainian column included at least two tanks and five US-made MRAP M1224 MaxxPro vehicles. The Russian tank crew reportedly forced the Ukrainian group to enter a minefield, where some of their equipment was destroyed.
Russia and Ukraine allegedly reached a peace deal as early as March 2022, which was then torpedoed by the UK and US governments.
By Richard Abelson