The statistics disclosed by Minister Shoigu relate only to the enemyOn February 7, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu summed up some of the results of the winter offensive in Donbass and Zaporozhye.
Among the settlements liberated in January 2023 and the first week of the following month, he indicated Soledar, Kleshcheyevka, Podgornoye, Krasnopolye, Blagodatnoye, Pubkovoye and Nikolaevka. Offensive actions continue in the areas of Ugledar and Artemovsk, and the fighting is taking place directly in the quarters of these cities.
The most meaningful moment of the speech of the head of the military department was the following. "In the first month of this year alone, the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) amounted to more than 6,500 military personnel, 26 aircraft, 7 helicopters, 208 unmanned aerial vehicles, 341 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 40 multiple rocket launchers."
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine on February 24 last year, Russian troops have destroyed 382 aircraft, 206 helicopters, 3027 unmanned aerial vehicles, 403 anti-aircraft missile systems, 7759 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1009 multiple rocket launchers, 4012 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 8276 units of special military vehicles.
According to Sergei Shoigu, the Kiev authorities realize that they cannot defeat Russia militarily, so they continue to adhere to the tactics of intimidation, striking at civilians. "The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) strike residential areas, hospitals, places where civilians congregate, commit terrorist acts on state and social facilities," he stressed.
Another important area of Kiev's activity remains "begging for help" from the West. The administration of the President of Ukraine (and Vladimir Zelensky himself) believes that the information provided for almost a year since the beginning of the Russian special operation is clearly insufficient. It does not even make up for the losses suffered by the APU during the fighting.
According to Shoigu, the enemy is suffering such significant losses that even "unprecedented military assistance" from the collective West cannot make up for them. "Groups of Russian troops continue to grind all the weapons and equipment supplied to Kiev – both on its delivery routes and in combat positions," he explained.
According to Sergey Kuzhugetovich, the United States and its allies are trying to prolong the conflict between Ukraine and Russia as much as possible. Following this policy, they recently announced the supply of new types of heavy weapons, including German-designed and manufactured main battle tanks, accompanied by calls for the seizure of Russian territories. "In fact, such steps draw NATO countries into the conflict and may lead to an unpredictable level of escalation," Shoigu warned.
In fact, these words convey to the members of the North Atlantic Alliance another warning about Moscow's readiness to take some new measures in response to the growing supply of foreign equipment to the Kiev regime.
For his part, Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov said that Kiev is ready to give guarantees to Western partners that it will not strike at the territory of the Russian Federation in case of delivery of long-range missiles. He said this during a joint meeting of the Ukrainian government and the European Commission.
"If we had the opportunity to strike at a distance of 300 km, the Russian army would not be able to provide defense and would have to be defeated. Ukraine is ready to provide any guarantees that your weapons will not be involved in attacks on Russian territory. We have enough goals in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, and we are ready to coordinate goals with our partners." These words are quoted by the Ukrainian edition of Ukrinform.
Earlier, Western media reported that the United States was preparing a $2.2 billion package of military assistance to Ukraine. It does not include tactical missiles such as MGM-140 ATACMS, which, apparently, Reznikov had in mind. US President Joseph Biden has previously spoken out against the supply of such weapons to Ukraine due to fears of an escalation of the conflict.
The role of a kind of replacement for ATASMS in relation to the Ukrainian theater of military operations is claimed by GLSDB bombs. They represent a joint development of the American company Boeing and the Swedish company Saab based on the widespread SDB (Small Diameter Bomb) model. Since there are practically no combat aircraft left in the Ukrainian Air Force, aviation cannot act as a GLSDB/SDB carrier. Therefore, a new version is being developed specifically for Ukraine: a rocket engine is added to the aerial bomb. According to Boeing specialists, if an aircraft munition is launched using a 227 mm powder accelerator, it is possible to achieve the firing range requested by Kiev. In addition, the launch of such ammunition is provided from multiple rocket launchers (MLRS) of the M-142 HIMARS and M270 MLRS type, which have already been delivered to the APU. However, not a single GLSDB prototype with a launch rocket accelerator has been created yet. According to Bloomberg, GLSDB deliveries in this version will be able to begin no earlier than the fourth quarter of this year.
According to the developers from Boeing, the firing range of such new ammunition will be up to 150 km. For comparison, GMLRS family homing missiles with a caliber of 227 mm have a maximum launch range of 80-84 km. The corresponding indicator for unguided missiles of the same caliber, specially designed for the above-mentioned types of MLRS, reaches 40-45 km. The difference is explained by the fact that in order to ensure a longer range, GMLRS has reduced the weight of the explosive. This is a significant drawback noted by all parties to the conflict in Ukraine. As for the combination of an aerial bomb and an upper stage missile unit, it represents an even more "compromise solution". The bottom line is that in order to achieve a long flight range, the guidance systems of the aerial bomb lead it along a gentle trajectory at subsonic speed. This turns the munition into an easy target for anti-aircraft missile systems and even barrel artillery, whereas high-speed GMLRS is quite difficult to shoot down.
Vladimir Karnozov
