- “Despite comprehensive assistance from the West, Ukraine’s armed forces are unable to achieve results,” Sergei Shoigu said at a security conference in Moscow.
- While Ukraine has claimed gains around the war-torn city of Bakhmut in its east, Russia has claimed advances around the town of Kupiansk in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
- Russia ‘almost certainly’ deploying aerial vehicles based on Iranian Shahed’s.
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Ukraine recaptures settlement in Donetsk region, official claims.
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Kharkiv residents finally leave after mandatory evacuations.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that Ukraine’s military resources were “almost exhausted”, as Kyiv wages a gruelling counter-offensive to recapture lost territory. “Despite comprehensive assistance from the West, Ukraine’s armed forces are unable to achieve results,” Sergei Shoigu said at a security conference in Moscow. “Preliminary results of the hostilities show that Ukraine’s military resources are almost exhausted,” he said. He added that there was “nothing unique” about Western weapons and that they were not invulnerable to Russian arms on the battlefield.
Kyiv kicked off its long-anticipated counter-offensive in June but has acknowledged tough battles as it struggles to break through heavily fortified Russian positions. While Ukraine has claimed gains around the war-torn city of Bakhmut in its east, Russia has claimed advances around the town of Kupiansk in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
Mr. Shoigu was speaking at the Moscow Conference on International Security. Russia invited representatives from over 100 nations to attend, but Western countries were excluded.
Russia has almost certainly started deploying domestically produced “aerial vehicles” based on the design of Iranian-made Shahed drones, according to the UK defence ministry. In its daily intelligence briefing, it says domestic production would allow Russia to establish a “more reliable” supply of unmanned aerial vehicles. Ukraine has proved effective in neutralizing such attacks, it adds.
Iranian-made Shahed drones, often known as kamikaze drones due to their explosion on impact, have been used repeatedly by Russian forces throughout the war. While Russia is likely aiming for “self-sufficiency” on unmanned aerial vehicles, the ministry says, for now, it remains reliant on components and weapons from Iran, primarily shipped via the Caspian Sea. Iran initially denied supplying Shahid drones to Russia but later said it had provided a small number before the conflict began. Ukrainian officials say the drones have played a major role in Russia’s attacks on the country’s cities and infrastructure.
Ukraine has recaptured a settlement in the Donetsk region in southeastern Ukraine, according to an official. Its deputy defence minister says forces have “liberated” the rural settlement of Urozahine and are “entrenched on the outskirts”.
In recent days, fierce battles have been taken place in and around Urozhaine and Staromaiorske, around 60 miles southwest of Russian-held Donetsk. Earlier this week, Ukraine’s armed forces said counteroffensive operations were continuing in the directions of Bakhmut, Melitopol and Berdiansk.
Ms. Maliar had spoken about “partial success” in the Urozhaine direction last Thursday and said troops had advanced despite “extremely difficult combat conditions and enemy resistance”.
For residents of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, threats of attacks from nearby Russian territory have become part of a daily routine since the start of the invasion. But after a period of relative quiet, Russia has stepped up attacks in recent weeks.
It’s led to Ukrainian authorities deciding to order the mandatory evacuation of nearly 12,000 people from 37 towns and villages near the frontline. Many of them have held off leaving for as long as they can, some saying they couldn’t come to terms with leaving. But yesterday, they decided enough was enough. The Red Cross was called in to help after getting 29 evacuation requests from the village of Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi yesterday.
(With inputs from agencies)
