Highly effective fortifications have been instrumental in pushing back Ukraine’s counteroffensive, according to a top military official
© Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Kiev has lost over 500 pieces of military and special equipment while trying to break through Russian fortifications during the course of its largely unsuccessful counteroffensive launched last summer, according to the chief of Russia’s Engineering Troops, Lt. Gen. Yury Stavitsky.
Russian defensive fortifications have proven to be highly effective against Ukraine’s hardware, including Western-supplied equipment, he claimed in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper published on Friday.
Among those losses were over 180 pieces of Western-supplied materiel, including German-designed Leopard tanks and US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, Stavitsky said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry estimated earlier this month that Kiev had received more than $203 billion in foreign assistance since the outbreak of the conflict and had been supplied with over 1,600 pieces of missile and artillery equipment, over 200 air defense systems, 5,220 tanks and armored vehicles, and more than 23,000 drones.
Read more
Stavitsky noted that Russian military engineers made a “significant contribution” in repelling the Ukrainian counteroffensive and had constructed an impressive defense system, despite harsh weather and the mass use of high-precision weapons and UAVs by Kiev’s forces.
The commander stated that by the time Kiev had launched its summer operation, Russia had already dug out more than 3,600 kilometers of trenches and communication passages, created over 150,000 trench shelters for equipment, and weaponized over 4,500 dugouts and 12,000 reinforced concrete structures.
“Thus, by the time the enemy launched its counteroffensive, there was already a deeply echeloned system of defensive lines, positions and areas in place that was up to 120 kilometers deep along the entire line of combat,” the official explained.
“Considering the scale and timing of the tasks, we can say with confidence that this is an unprecedented case in the history of wars and armed conflicts,” Stavitsky stated. He added that the fortified defense lines have made it possible to “increase the survivability of Russian troops and the effectiveness of the use of weapons and military equipment by five to six times.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed earlier this week that Kiev’s much-touted counteroffensive had “completely failed” and that Ukraine’s statehood was now under threat of being dealt “an irreparable and very serious blow.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry has described Kiev’s losses throughout the conflict as catastrophic, estimating that the Ukrainian military has lost nearly 400,000 troops – killed and wounded – since February 2022, including over 160,000 during its counteroffensive, launched in early June.
