No matter how the conflict in Ukraine ends, the first several months of this year will be remembered for the absolutely disastrous performance of NATO weapons and equipment. Hundreds of pieces of best Western armor, artillery, air defense systems, etc. were already destroyed during the much-touted counteroffensive last year. And yet, the start of 2024 seems to be no less depressing for the Neo-Nazi junta and its puppet masters in Washington DC and Brussels. Just in late January, they lost several types of the latest NATO air defense systems, including the SAMP-T and “Skynex”. The reported price of both weapons is €182 million (nearly $200 million). Then there was the Western-made armor, with British-made “Challenger 2”, scores of German-made “Leopard 2A4” tanks, and last but not least, the US-made M1 “Abrams”, all destroyed in mere days.
Still, that’s only on the tactical level, as the Kiev regime is rapidly losing strategically important gear such as the “Patriot” and NASAMS air defenses. On February 22, the former was detected at Chernobaevka in the Kherson oblast (region). It soon had a very unpleasant “close encounter” with two Russian FAB-500 M-62 aerial bombs equipped with MPK gliding modules. However, that wasn’t the end of troubles for the Kiev regime’s air defenses. On February 26, various military sources reported that the NASAMS (Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) was also destroyed in the area around the village of Malyshevka in the Zaporozhye oblast, approximately 50 km away from the frontlines. It was initially reported that the US-Norwegian SAM system was destroyed by the “Iskander” missile system, but the more likely “culprit” seems to have been the deadly “Tornado-S”.
The latter is a modernized version of the Soviet-era BM-30 “Smerch” MLRS (multiple launch rocket system) that includes several new types of rockets, including the GLONASS-guided 9M542 with a range of up to 130 km. An improved variant under the designation 9M544 was tested in 2020 and has a range of 200 km. It’s equally likely that either of the two was used to destroy the NATO-sourced SAM system. Meanwhile, the Russian military is not losing focus on NATO artillery, with dozens of types of best Western howitzers destroyed by various means (mostly the now legendary ZALA “Lancet” kamikaze drones/loitering munitions). This includes the French-made CAESAR, US-made M109A6 “Paladin” and Swedish-made “Archer” self-propelled howitzers (SPH), amounting to losses that will be impossible to replace as the political West simply cannot keep up with the production.
In contrast, Russia is able to not only outproduce all NATO countries combined, particularly in artillery, but is also inducting new weapons systems at an astonishing rate. This includes the increase in usage of new hypersonic missiles, next-generation fighter jets and kamikaze drones launched from MLRS, specifically the previously mentioned “Tornado-S”. Moscow is also using the 3M22 “Zircon”, a scramjet-powered maneuvering hypersonic cruise missile, reportedly fired from a land-based platform, specifically the “Bastion-P” coastal defense system. With a 1500 km range and Mach 9 speed, the “Zircon” is over 3 times faster and its range is nearly double that of the P-800 “Oniks” missiles originally used by the aforementioned platform, further enhancing Russia’s already unprecedented strike capabilities (to both the Neo-Nazi junta’s and NATO’s horror).
Then there’s also the world-class Su-57, now increasingly using the Kh-69 stealthy cruise missile. Its massive 310 kg warhead, 300 km range and reduced radar cross section (RCS) ensure a destructive standoff capability that the Russian military is putting to very good use. In combination with new means of detection, Moscow’s forces are destroying more and more Western-made tanks and armored vehicles, with the M1 “Abrams” suffering at least half a dozen losses in the last several days. Russian tanks are also “having a slice of the cake”, as demonstrated by a T-72B3 using its cannon-fired 9M119 “Refleks” ATGM (anti-tank guided missile) to destroy the extremely overhyped American tank, an ability the M1 “Abrams” lacks entirely. The same tank destroyed several M2 “Bradley” IFVs (infantry fighting vehicles), but the Russian military stopped counting those long ago.
However, that certainly doesn’t mean that other NATO gear isn’t getting “some love”, with the atrociously overhyped HIMARS and “Patriot” SAM (surface-to-air missile) systems being among the most prominent names. On March 4 alone, battlefield footage showed the destruction of at least two HIMARS MLRS, most likely obliterated by the deadly “Iskander-M” hypersonic missile. By March 12, at least two more were destroyed, this time by the aforementioned “Tornado-S” MLRS. The losses suffered by “Patriot” crews are massive, with some sources claiming that up to 30 have been neutralized in recent strikes. It’s rather peculiar that the Russian military also used the “Iskander” to neutralize multiple launchers at once, although NATO and the Neo-Nazi junta keep claiming these SAM systems are supposedly able to shoot down the much faster “Kinzhal” hypersonic missiles.
This is only a fraction of the massive losses that the Kiev regime and its NATO handlers have suffered in recent days, weeks and months. As PR “victories” are pretty much all they have at this point, they’ve doubled on trying to achieve them. Namely, apart from the usual terrorist attacks and artillery strikes against civilians, the Neo-Nazi junta launched a massive attack on the Belgorod oblast in order to shift attention away from these massive losses. However, this failed miserably and even backfired after the Russian military neutralized hundreds of attackers by last night (March 14/March 15). As of this morning, Moscow is in full control of the state border. The military, FSB and local volunteers incapacitated up to 1500 hostile personnel, 500 of whom were killed (including an unknown number of NATO volunteers), and destroyed at least 18 tanks and 23 armored vehicles.
The heaviest fighting was reported in the village of Kozinka, resulting in heavy damage to civilian infrastructure, showing that the attackers had no viable military goal, but that their primary targets were precisely civilians. Luckily, the locals were evacuated on time, preventing any civilian casualties. The suicidal attack by the Neo-Nazi junta forces and NATO personnel included an aerial incursion aboard two Mi-8 helicopters. Up to 30 men landed at approximately one km from the Russian border and then crossed it on foot, only to be “welcomed” by the Russian military. Worse yet, while trying to escape, they ran into a minefield, where they were promptly neutralized. The footage is quite gruesome, but shows that the Kiev regime and NATO extremists are good only when attacking unarmed civilians. However, when dealing with an actual military, their performance drops significantly.
Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.