The Russian Defense Minister said on Tuesday that the resources of the Ukrainian army were “almost exhausted”, at a time when kyiv has been waging a grueling counter-offensive since June to retake the territories occupied by Moscow. “Ukraine’s military resources are almost exhausted,” Sergei Shoigu told a security conference in Moscow, assuring that Kiev was getting “no results” despite “full support” from the West.
He claimed that the military campaign in Ukraine, launched almost a year and a half ago, had proved a “serious test” for the Russian army, but that Russia had managed to “significantly” increase its production armored vehicles. Regarding the Western weapons delivered to kyiv, Sergei Shoigu said they were “nothing unique or invulnerable” for Russian troops.
“We are ready to share our assessments of the weak points of Western equipment”, declared the Russian minister, in front of an assembly of international military officials. He also thanked Russian soldiers who he said are fighting on the battlefield against “neo-Nazism”, echoing the Kremlin’s rhetoric that claims the offensive in Ukraine is aimed at overthrowing a neo-Nazi regime.
The main information to remember:
- Moscow estimates that Ukraine’s military resources are “almost exhausted”
- Two Ukrainian cities were targeted by Russian strikes
- German finance minister in favor of long-range missile deliveries
- Russia says it prevented Ukrainian incursion into Ukraine border region
Moscow says it destroyed military industrial sites
The Russian army said on Tuesday that it had destroyed several military industrial sites in Ukraine in a new salvo of night strikes.
“Overnight, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation delivered a targeted blow… to key military-industrial enterprises of the Kiev regime,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in its daily statement, assuring as usual that “all targeted sites have been affected”. “The military-industrial complex of Ukraine suffered significant damage,” he added.
Strikes on two towns in western Ukraine
Nightly strikes targeted the cities of Lviv and Lutsk in western Ukraine and left at least three people dead, local officials said Tuesday morning. In Loutsk, “we (had) a + strike +” on the premises of a company in the industry sector, declared on Telegram Yuriy Poguliaiko, the governor of the Volhynia region of which Loutsk is the regional center.
“According to initial information, unfortunately, there are three dead and three injured as a result” of the strike on Lutsk, the city’s mayor Igor Polichchuk said on Telegram. Several people are hospitalized, added Yuriy Poguliaiko. In March 2022, four Ukrainian soldiers were killed and six others injured according to local authorities in March 2022 in the bombardment by the Russian army of the Lutsk air base, some 80 km from the Polish border.
A strike also targeted Lviv, a large city in western Ukraine rarely targeted, located some 150 km southwest of Lutsk. “Many missiles were shot down, but there were strikes also in Lviv,” city mayor Andriy Sadovyi said on Telegram, adding that “residential buildings” were hit. “There is a fire on the upper floors. We are evacuating people,” added the elected official, explaining that the competent services are on site.
“Missile fragments fell on apartment buildings on Patona and Kakhovska streets,” Maksym Kozytsky, the head of the regional military administration, said on Telegram. The official reported injuries, adding that they had received all the necessary medical assistance.
German finance minister in favor of long-range missile deliveries
German Finance Minister Christian Lindner expressed support on Monday for the delivery by Germany of Taurus cruise missiles requested by kyiv to repel Russian forces. “I hope and think it can be possible,” the liberal minister said in an interview with Bild, Die Welt and Politico media at the end of his first visit to Kiev since the Russian invasion of Israel. Ukraine in February 2022.
“In times of war, speed is essential,” he added. Germany is under increasing pressure from Kiev to send it long-range Taurus cruise missiles to support its counteroffensive against Russian troops. The German government has so far opposed the request, fearing the missiles could reach Russian territory and escalate the conflict.
Asked about this on Sunday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz remained vague. “As in the past, we will always look very carefully at every decision, what is possible, what makes sense, what our contribution can be,” he said.
Russia says it prevented Ukrainian incursion into Ukraine border region
Russian forces prevented an incursion by a Ukrainian “group of saboteurs” into the Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine, regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Tuesday.
Russian armed forces and border guards “prevented an attempt by a group of Ukrainian saboteurs to enter Russian territory” near the village of Kurkovichi, in the Bryansk region, Bogomaz said on Telegram, specifying that “no one was injured”.