RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Ukrainian military getting weaker – Shoigu
Russian Defense Minister Shoigu said on Tuesday that the current situation in the combat zone suggests that the Ukrainian armed forces are losing strength and “panicking.” He cited a substantial takedown of aviation potential to back up his assertion.
Shoigu claimed that his forces downed 24 Ukrainian military planes in just five days, crediting “new weapons systems” for the achievement.
He also pointed to manpower losses reducing Kiev’s offensive potential. “Today’s situation shows that the enemy has fewer and fewer capabilities. And there are fewer of their soldiers thanks exclusively to your combat work,” he told servicemen from the Vostok Group.
“They are in panic, we know their tactics, we know their offensive and retreat plans,” he added.
Shoigu added that in the last three to four weeks many Ukrainians have been captured or have voluntarily surrendered. According to the minister, they speak about the poor psychological condition of their colleagues.
“We now have weapons systems which have taken down 24 planes in five days,” Shoigu was quoted as saying in a press release.
Footage of the discussion published by the military did not include the comments about the new weapons, while Shoigu did not detail the time frame in which the strikes on Ukrainian aircraft were conducted.
The Defense Ministry regularly reports successful engagements of Ukrainian military aircraft by fighter jets and air defense units. Briefings from last Friday to Tuesday claimed that 18 planes had been destroyed in total.
The list included 14 MiG-29s, two Su-24s, one Su-25, and one L-39. The latter is a Czech-produced trainer-fighter plane, rather than a more capable fighter or ground attack plane like the others. A single Mi-8 helicopter was taken down in the same period, according to the ministry.
The ministry’s briefing on Friday noted that in the week starting October 14, Russian forces took out 12 Ukrainian planes, including ten MiG-29s and two Su-25s. Seven of the MiGs were destroyed in a 24-hour period, the report said.
A source close to the Defense Ministry told TASS that Shoigu was referring to the use of the long-range air defense system S-400, with targeting data provided by the A-50 airborne radar. The interceptors fired during the engagement were reportedly armed with new warheads. The claim was not officially confirmed.
Shoigu attended the award ceremony after visiting one of the headquarters involved in the Ukrainian campaign. It was held in a tent in which weapons trophies appeared to be on display alongside portraits of Russian military commanders and Orthodox icons.
** Russia’s top brass reports downing two American ATACMS missiles for first time
Russian air defense forces shot down two US-made ATACMS missiles over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.
Russia’s Defense Ministry did not report earlier about the destruction of ATACMS missiles.
"During the last 24-hour period, air defense capabilities intercepted two US-made ATACMS tactical missiles, an S-200 surface-to-air missile converted for striking ground targets, two HARM anti-radiation missiles and two rockets of the US-manufactured HIMARS multiple launch rocket system," the ministry said in a statement.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Russia disregards losses, presses on in Ukraine's Avdiivka
Russian forces are disregarding heavy losses and pressing on with a drive to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.
Russia has focused on the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk since failing in its initial drive on the capital Kyiv after mounting its invasion in February 2022.
Over the past two weeks, Russia has concentrated on Avdiivka in Donetsk, a town known in peacetime for its big coking plant and now seen as a bulwark of Ukrainian resistance.
"The enemy is trying to move forward and then we beat them back," Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine's southern groups of forces, said on national TV.
"So by no means can you speak of a fixed situation of some sort. Heavy fighting is continuing, though activity has subsided somewhat. The enemy is going through some kind of regrouping."
Russian forces were relying on infantry, using small assault groups of 30 to 40 men, Shtupun said, giving Russia's losses in the last six days as 2,500 dead and wounded in the area.
"This is quite significant even for Russia, bearing in mind that they do not look after their own men," Shtupun said.
Vitaliy Barabash, head of Avdiivka's military administration, said Russia was applying pressure from the north but was unable to get past a rail line under Ukrainian control.
He also dismissed reports that Russian troops had secured control of one of the large slag heaps dominating the town's industrial landscape.
"They put up flags there and tried to make some kind of spectacle," Barabash said.
Valeriy Prozapas, a Ukrainian captain, told Espreso TV that the Russians were acting to exploit the fact that Avdiivka was "de facto half surrounded".
"The second issue is political. They have little to be proud of and have to sell to their population some sort of victory, even if it is only an interim one," Prozapas said.
Ukraine's counteroffensive, launched in June, has resulted in the capture of devastated villages in the east and some settlements in the southern sector, but the pace is far slower than last year's advance through the northeast.
Russian accounts of the latest fighting made no mention of Avdiivka, but said Russian troops had repelled 15 Ukrainian attacks near Kupiansk, farther north.
Ukrainian officials also acknowledged heavy fighting near Kupiansk, a town initially seized by troops but taken back by Ukraine in last year's rapid advance through the northeast.
Authorities in Kharkiv region said they were imposing a mandatory evacuation of families from 10 localities in the area.
RT/Tass/Reuters
