June 23, 2023
On June 22, 2023 during session of the Russian Security Council Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defence, announced updated figures of the failed Ukrainian ‘offensive’ that was badly organized by Kiev junta.
He reported that after almost 16 days of active combat operations since June 4, the adversary sustained heavy losses and is no longer as aggressive as it used to be. I it is regrouping and bringing its decimated units up to strength. Forces that could later mount an offensive are being drawn from various units and battalions. This is the lay of things in one domain. In other domain, the adversary still has forces for further offensive operations, despite considerable equipment and personnel losses.
Regarding current and planned military equipment deliveries to Kiev, there are plans to supply 250 tanks, including about 120 Leopards and 31 Abrams tanks, throughout 2023. There are also 95 T-72 tanks that they have scraped together from all over the world. There are plans to deliver 983 armoured combat vehicles throughout 2023. In all, 822 vehicles, the bulk of the shipment, including 740 Western models, is set to arrive during the third and fourth quarters of 2023. The intention is to deliver 273 155-mm artillery systems throughout the current year. This is more than two times less than had been delivered so far.
Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev continued that it has relevant information on the adversary’s lost equipment shared from the Defence Ministry, the Border Service of the Federal Security Service, the Military Counterintelligence Department of the Federal Security Service, and the Russian National Guard. He provided the following statistics. Since June 4 to 21, Russian troops have destroyed:
- 246 tanks, including 13 Western tanks,
- 595 armoured combat vehicles (ACV) and armoured cars (of this number, 152 ACV, including 59 Western models where 18 are U.S. Bradley armoured fighting vehicles),
- 443 other ACV,
- 279 field artillery systems and mortars, including 48 Western systems;
- 42 multiple launch rocket systems,
- 2 surface-to-air missile systems
- 10 tactical fighters,
- 4 helicopters,
- 264 drones
- and 424 motor vehicles.
- the grand total of Ukrainian servicemen is over 13,000 KIA.
In Patrushev’s view, the amount of military hardware due to be delivered to Ukraine throughout 2023, as well as those weapons that have already been delivered, will not seriously affect the course of hostilities. Their armour is weak and ineffective, compared to modern equipment. Russia does not see any threats here, all the more so as it has actively accumulated reserve equipment and service personnel. Russian Army recruited 114,000 people as contractual enlistees, and an additional 52,000 as volunteers, volunteers being very motivated.
By the end of June 2023, Russia will complete the effort to create a Reserve Army and the initiative to form an Army Corps will be completed in the near future too. Five regiments are already 60 percent ready, including in terms of both manpower and equipment. As for military hardware, Russian Armed Forces (RAF) are receiving about 112 units, on average, every day. This includes both upgraded and new equipment. It means that RAF have gathered substantial momentum and do not expect anything to hamper their efforts to create this reserve.
At the end of the recorded session President Vladimir Putin said: “From this we can conclude that they [Western alliance] can certainly send in additional equipment, but the mobilization reserve [of Ukraine] is not unlimited. And Ukraine’s Western allies really seem determined to fight with Russia to the last Ukrainian. At the same time, we must proceed from the fact that the enemy's offensive potential has not been exhausted; they may have strategic reserves yet unused, and I ask you to keep this in mind when making fighting strategies. You need to proceed from reality.’
2. A biased declaration
On June 11, 2023 so called “the International summit for Peace in Ukraine” convened in Vienna, Austria, has adopted its Final Declaration – a very biased and politically weak document drafted by pro-Ukrainian lobby in Europe and the USA, and NATO advisers infiltrated into many peace-movements.
It is strange that it condemned Russia for “illegal invasion of Ukraine”.
Russia never invaded Ukraine.
Only since February 24, 2022 that is nearly eight years later it began defensive operation to save tortured and killed many civilians in Donbass who have been brutally attacked by regular Armed Forces of Ukraine exactly on April 13, 2014.
During such overt and massive Ukrainian aggression since April 2014 till February 2022 against Donbass more than 14,000 civilians have been killed by Ukrainian tanks, combat aircraft, cluster munitions, land mines, chemical and biological weapons and even ballistic missiles. The organizers of the Vienna summit know all these facts for sure, but they carefully concealed them. They did not mention that NATO is pouring fuel into the flame of war by sending 40th‘basket’ of lethal weapons and millions of ammunition to Kiev.
The declaration also urged “to end the war before it destroys Ukraine”. But why Ukraine has been exclusively mentioned? Why not Russia as well?
The Vienna ‘summit’ proved that its sponsors do not know what are the real causes and motives of the unprovoked of Ukrainian/NATO aggression initiated by Kiev junta with malicious NATO military assistance as an aggressive military pact directly involved in that aggression and genocide of civilians in five territories in Ukraine wishing strongly not to live in a neo-Nazi and a banderist state named ‘Ukraine’.
Instead of “to end the war” the declaration actually encourages Kiev regime to continue its inhuman, dangerous and brutal aggression against innocent people. It also encourages NATO to stockpile Ukraine with heavy deadly weapons.
Written by Vladimir P. Kozin
