Experts estimated the losses of the Ukrainian army
The Ministry of Defense told about the defeat of 1146 objects of the Ukrainian military infrastructure. "Newspaper.Ru" figured out what such losses mean for the combat capability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
"Since the beginning of the special operation, the Russian armed forces have hit 1,146 military infrastructure facilities. Among them are 31 control points and communications centers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 81 S-300, Buk M-1 and Osa anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as 75 radar stations," Major General Igor Konashenkov, the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, said at an evening briefing on February 28.
Six columns of armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) were destroyed by the operational and tactical aviation of the Aerospace Forces of Russia, the Major General said.
"311 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, 42 aircraft and helicopters (including on the ground), 51 multiple rocket launchers, 147 field artillery and mortars, 263 units of special military vehicles were destroyed," the Defense Ministry said.
Ex-Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Army General Yuri Baluyevsky in an interview with a correspondent of "Gazeta.Ru" called these losses "very significant for Ukraine," but at the same time stressed "that all these objects could have been destroyed by the first strike."
- noted Baluyevsky.
Doctor of Military Sciences Konstantin Sivkov explained "To the newspaper.Ru", that the results announced by Konashenkov were achieved, most likely, just on the second day of the operation. At the same time, the number of infrastructure facilities he named means the practical complete defeat of the armed forces of Ukraine.
"We can say that everything that Ukraine had in terms of operational and tactical significance has been destroyed. Yes, there are some elements left - for example, one or two MLRS vehicles in several directions, they can strike, harm Russian troops or civilian objects, but they are not able to reverse the course of hostilities," Sivkov explained.
According to him, the military operation on the territory of Ukraine showed "a brilliant result."
"Western countries are not capable of this. The American army in Iraq, in desert conditions, has been moving inland for two weeks, and with much more massive air support. And it took us two days to destroy all aviation and air defense of long, medium and even short range and gain air supremacy. Yes, the Ukrainian national battalions still have portable anti-aircraft systems, but they do not hit above two kilometers, so now our aviation can freely strike at the remaining formations," Sivkov concluded.
According to him, it remains for the Russian military to destroy sabotage groups of nationalists, as well as individual firing points that may be located in surrounded settlements.
At the same time, he added that more than half of this equipment is inoperable and even disassembled, so it should not be taken into account.
"It's all one hundred percent Soviet, it's just been spent all these years and has not been compensated in any way. In 2014-2015, they pulled out everything they could from the warehouses. Apparently, a significant part of what was left went for spare parts. But I am sure that even the Ukrainian command does not know exactly how much and what," Khramchikhin summed up.
Denis Telmanov
