According to Shoigu, “since the start of the special operation, the Ukrainian armed forces’ casualties have exceeded 383,000 service members, killed and wounded, 14,000 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 553 warplanes and 259 helicopters, 8,500 artillery pieces, and multiple launch rocket systems.”
The minister claimed that Kiev has suffered almost half of its overall military personnel losses since it began an attempted counteroffensive in early June. The costly push has failed to deliver any consequential territorial gains, as recently acknowledged by top officials in Kiev and Western capitals alike.
Several NATO member states have boots on the ground in the Ukraine conflict, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has claimed. Western military personnel are operating certain weapons systems, he alleged, and that hundreds of the US-led military bloc’s satellites are providing surveillance data to Kiev.
Shoigu also stated that “NATO service members are directly operating air defense systems, tactical ballistic missiles, and multiple launch rocket systems” in Ukraine. He cited radio intercepts featuring English and Polish speakers.
According to the minister, Western officers are also playing an active role in preparing Ukrainian military operations as well as training troops, both in their home countries and in Ukraine.
Russian officials have repeatedly warned that ever-deepening Western involvement in the conflict unnecessarily increases the chances of a direct military confrontation between NATO and Moscow.
The Russian defense chief went on to claim that more than 5,000 foreign fighters have been killed since hostilities broke out in February 2022, with 1,427 Polish, 466 US, and 344 UK nationals among them.
“Working in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ interest are 410 NATO military and dual-purpose space devices,” Shoigu estimated.
President Vladimir Putin, who presided over a meeting of the ministry’s collegium, stated that Russian troops now have the upper hand along the entire front line.
Putin declared that Moscow is “not going to give up our goals of the special military operation”, adding that the Russian military currently has considerable leeway for maneuver in the conflict.
According to the Russian leader, Kiev “has to a large degree squandered its reserves, attempting to show some result to its true masters”. The last several months have also dispelled the myth that Western military hardware is invincible, he continued.
Putin concluded that any hopes of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia among Kiev’s Western backers have been shattered.
