The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as drones, has seen a significant rise within the Russian military. These UAVs have proven to be invaluable for a range of missions, such as reconnaissance, surveillance, and combat operations.
The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage showing UAVs belonging to Russia's Battlegroup Dnepr airborne troops destroying more than 10 Ukrainian vehicles in one hour on the right bank of the Dnepr River along the Kherson front.
Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the Russian paratroopers' reconnaissance and attack drone operators, the transportation infrastructure and logistics chains of a unit within the Ukrainian Armed Forces were successfully incapacitated.
Ukraine Loses Up to 700 Soldiers in Battles With Russia's Battlegroup Yug - Moscow
The Ukrainian armed forces have lost up to 700 soldiers in battles with Russia’s Battlegroup Yug in the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday.
"The Ukrainian armed forces have lost up to 700 servicepeople, a tank, two Kozak armored combat vehicles, two cars, a UK-made 155-mm AS-90 self-propelled artillery unit, four 152-mm D-20 guns, two 122-mm D-30 howitzers, a US-made 105-mm M119 gun, two UK-made howitzers L-119," the ministry said.
Russia's Battlegroup Tsentr have repelled five Ukrainian counterattacks and taken control of the Voskhod settlement in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), the ministry said.
"Enemy losses amounted to up to 335 military personnel, two infantry fighting vehicles, including a US-made Bradley BMP, two cars, a 152-mm Msta-B howitzer, a US-made 105-mm M119 gun, four 100-mm MT-12 Rapier guns, a US-made counter-battery radar station TPQ-36," the statement read.
Ukraine has lost up to 460 soldiers in battles with Russia's Battlegroup Zapad and another 335 in fighting with Russia's Sever (North) group of forces, the ministry said.
Scott Ritter: Ukraine an 'Open Target for Russia to Take Apart'
No matter how many and what kind of air defense systems NATO plans to donate to the Kiev regime, Russia will continue to pursue its military objectives while grinding through those weapons, underscored Scott Ritter. Fueling the ongoing proxy war in Ukraine will leave the West facing depleted stocks of its own air defense systems.
Russia is able to wipe out the military equipment provided to the Kiev regime, especially air defense, at a rate "far greater than the West can even replenish its own stocks," former US marine intelligence officer Scott Ritter said.
“This is a losing equation. And without air defense, Ukraine is literally an open target for Russia to take apart as it best sees fit,” said Ritter.
On the opening day of the recent NATO summit in Washington, US President Joe Biden pledged to provide Ukraine with five new strategic air defense systems and dozens of smaller, strategic anti-air batteries over the coming year. In remarks delivered at the opening of the summit, Biden said that to donate the Patriot systems, the US would join forces with Germany, Romania, Italy, and the Netherlands.
The announcement came two days after a missile strike hit a children's hospital in Kiev, with the Zelensky-led neo-Nazi regime and its Western allies groundlessly accusing Russia of targeting the building.
Photographs and videos taken in Kiev confirm that a building on the grounds of the Okhmatdet hospital was hit by a surface-to-air missile fired from the Western-made NASAMS air defense system during a Russian attack on military targets in Kiev, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. The ministry linked the Kiev regime's accusations to the then-upcoming NATO summit set to discuss Ukraine's potential membership among other issues, and new arms deliveries to Kiev.
Indeed, the well-timed announcement from Washington comes as Ukraine seems to have “a particular desire” for the Patriot air defense system, noted Ritter, but “it'll take whatever it can get.”
According to the ex-marine intel officer, even after Ukraine gets the promised air defenses, it will face a big problem reconstructing an integrated air defense umbrella.
Back when Ukraine was initially provided with the NATO air defense systems such as the Patriots, NASAMs, IRIS-T, French (SAMP/T) Mamba - they had a Soviet era air defense umbrella that consisted primarily of the S-300 air defense system, the Buk, others, he explained. However, in the months of the proxy conflict this air defense umbrella became nonexistent, underscored Ritter, adding:
“And when Ukraine brings in their air defense systems, they have to do so in a very makeshift, haphazard manner. They aren't able to use them the way they were designed. This requires trickery, you know, turning on and off radars, firing missiles before radar lock is taking place. It's a very inefficient way to use air defense systems. And because Russia is able to put an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance umbrella over Ukraine, anytime Ukraine uses air defense, it's detected."
Since Russia’s Armed Forces are able to in very short order locate and destroy the systems, Kiev is in “one of these vicious cycles where there simply isn't enough weapon systems available to allow Ukraine to build the air defense umbrella it needs,” remarked the expert.
“This is one of the detrimental consequences of the attritional warfare that's being waged today in Ukraine... And it's one of the issues that this NATO summit has not been able to resolve in favor of Ukraine. Indeed, no issue has been resolved in favor of Ukraine. That's the reality of NATO today,” concluded Scott Ritter.
Final Day of 10th BRICS Parliamentary Forum Gets Underway
The 10th BRICS Parliamentary Forum is being held in St. Petersburg on July 11-12. The theme of the session is "The BRICS Parliamentary Dimension: Prospects for Strengthening Interparliamentary Cooperation".
Sputnik comes to you live as the final day of the 10th BRICS Parliamentary Forum begins in St. Petersburg gets underway.
The Russian delegation, led by Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko and Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, is joined by delegates from China, Brazil, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, India, and other countries at the event.
During the Forum, the participants engage in discussions regarding the significance of parliaments in enhancing the effectiveness of the international relations system and ensuring its democratization. They also address issues related to countering the fragmentation of the multilateral trade system, the impact of global crises, and the importance of inter-parliamentary collaboration in the areas of humanitarian aid and culture.
No comments:
Post a Comment