RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Ukraine conflict exposed truth about Western military equipment – Putin
Ukraine is facing significant battlefield losses, and its counteroffensive has failed to impress the country's foreign backers, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking during a Defense Ministry Board meeting on Tuesday in Moscow, he pointed out that Kiev’s forces are having these problems despite receiving high-grade Western military equipment.
Kiev has lost over 14,000 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles since the start of Russia’s military operation in the country, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said during the meeting.
“The myth of the invulnerability of Western military equipment has collapsed,” said Putin.
Throughout the Ukraine conflict, countries like the US, Germany, France, and the UK have supplied Kiev with hundreds of pieces of state-of-the-art Western-made heavy military equipment such as Leopard 2, Abrams and Challenger tanks, Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, and more.
Russian forces, however, have repeatedly reported either destroying or capturing this hardware, which had often been touted in Western media as superior to anything Russia has to offer.
Earlier this month, Russian soldiers in Ukraine reportedly seized yet another batch of US and German-made heavy equipment. In a video posted by Russian journalist Vladimir Soloviev, the Russian troops could be seen approaching a Leopard 2A4 tank, which had apparently been abandoned by its Ukrainian operators as there were no signs of any damage to the tank.
In August, Russia’s Defense Ministry even organized an exhibition of captured Western weaponry near Moscow, displaying everything from American M-113 armored personnel carriers and Swedish CV90-40s to French wheeled AMX-10RCR tanks and Australian Bushmaster armored vehicles. In total, the exhibition featured over 870 types of armaments seized by Russian forces, including examples of Soviet and Ukrainian-made equipment.
In July, President Putin also stated that captured Western weaponry would be “reverse-engineered” to adopt any technology that might turn out to be useful for Russian forces.
** Russia starts to leverage assault units, drone forces in military strategy shift — Shoigu
Russia has made a big adjustment to its military tactics, starting to favor deploying assault teams and drone crews, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said.
"We have readjusted our approach to how we use troops in modern warfare. The tactics of general combat have been tweaked. Assault units and drone crews have been formed and deployed," Russia’s defense chief said.
In addition, the importance of reserves was stressed, and now, "every army has its own reserve regiment," Shoigu added.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Russia launches air assault on Kyiv for fifth time in December -Ukraine
Russia late on Tuesday launched its fifth air attack this month targeting Kyiv, with Ukraine's air defence systems destroying all weapons on approach to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv's military said early on Wednesday.
"According to preliminary information, there were no casualties or destruction in the capital," Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.
The full scale of the attack was not immediately clear. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia.
Russia started carrying out strikes on Ukraine's energy, military and transport infrastructure in regions far from the front line in October 2022, six months after Moscow troops failed to take over Kyiv and withdrew to Ukraine's east and south.
Most of southeastern Ukraine remained under air raid alerts at 2300 GMT, with Ukraine's air force saying that the Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions were under threat of Russian ballistic missile attacks.
** Ukraine considers proposal by army to mobilise another 500,000 for war
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday the military had proposed mobilising 450,000-500,000 more Ukrainians into the armed forces in what would mark a dramatic step up of Kyiv's war with Russia.
The Ukrainian leader told his end-of-year news conference it was a "highly sensitive" issue that the military and government would discuss before deciding whether to send the proposal to parliament.
Zelenskiy said he wanted to hear more arguments in favour of mobilising the additional people before backing such a move.
"This is a very serious number," he said.
Ukraine has been at war with Russian troops since February 2022. Both sides treat their casualty numbers as a state secret, but U.S. officials estimate that hundreds of thousands have been killed and wounded.
Ukraine's troop numbers are not known, but it has said in the past it has around 1 million people under arms. Russia has been expanding its army during the war and said on Tuesday it planned to boost its ranks to 1.5 million service members.
"I said I would need more arguments to support this move. Because first of all, it's a question of people, secondly, it's a question of fairness, it's a question of defence capability, and it's a question of finances," Zelenskiy said.
Ukraine, which initially saw tens of thousands of volunteer fighters queuing up to defend their country from Russia's invasion, is now trying to conscript more men to replace those currently at the front.
There have been discussions behind closed doors for weeks on how to improve the draft process. Some Ukrainians have reacted angrily to social media videos showing draft officers handing out call-up papers at gyms and resorts.
Zelenskiy said an additional 500 billion hryvnias ($13.5 billion) would be needed to support the army's mobilization proposal and he wants further details on how the troops would be used to fight Russia.
There has been tension between Zelenskiy and the head of the army.
This week, army chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi criticised a decision, made by Zelenskiy, to fire the heads of the regional military draft offices amid a crackdown on corruption this summer.
RT/Tass/Reuters