Ukraine has lost hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles provided by the West. RT photo
Russia’s defensive fortifications have proven to be highly effective against Ukrainian hardware, including equipment supplied by the West, he stated in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper. published on Friday (January 19).
Among those losses were more than 180 pieces of Western-supplied equipment, including German-designed Leopard tanks and American-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, Stavitsky said.
The Russian Defense Ministry estimated earlier this month that Kiev has received more than $203 billion in foreign aid since the outbreak of the conflict and has been supplied with more than 1,600 missile and artillery equipment and more than 200 air defense systems. , 5,220 tanks and armored vehicles and more than 23,000 drones.
Stavitsky noted that Russian military engineers had made a “significant contribution” to repelling the Ukrainian counterattack and had built an impressive defense system, despite harsh weather and the Kiev uses a series of high-precision weapons and drones.
The commander said that by the time Kiev began its summer campaign, Russia had dug more than 3,600 km of trenches and communication lines, created more than 150,000 bunkers for equipment and armed more than 4,500 dugouts and 12,000 reinforced concrete structures.
This official explained: “So, by the time the enemy launched a counterattack, there was already a system of defense lines, positions and areas arranged extensively, up to 120 km deep along the entire line. fight” .
Stavitsky stated: “Considering the scale and duration of the mission, we can confidently say that this is an unprecedented case in the history of war and armed conflict.” He added that the strengthened defense lines had helped “increase the survivability of the Russian army and the efficiency of the use of weapons and military equipment by five to six times”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced earlier this week that Kiev’s much-hyped counteroffensive had “completely failed” and that the Ukrainian state was now in danger of being dealt “a very serious and irreparable blow.” Okay”.
The Russian Defense Ministry described Kiev’s losses in the conflict as catastrophic, estimating that the Ukrainian army had lost nearly 400,000 soldiers – killed and wounded – since February 2022, including more than 160,000 in The counterattack began in early June.