The chief of the Russian General Staff summed up the results of the Ukrainian counteroffensive
Large-scale supplies of Western weapons did not save the Kiev regime from the failure of the summer—autumn offensive, and the entry into battle of the Ukrainian command of strategic reserves only increased the enormous losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Valery Gerasimov said on December 21 at the annual briefing for foreign military attaches. Izvestia sources reported that the event was ignored by representatives of all NATO countries except Turkey. It follows from Valery Gerasimov's speeches that the Russian army in the zone of its own defense does not plan to remain in a defensive position next year, experts familiar with the content of his speech believe.
Attack scenarios
The growth of NATO's military activity near the borders of Russia has forced the leadership of our state to take unprecedented measures to strengthen the armed forces. Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, told about this at the annual briefing for foreign military attaches.
— Washington's purposeful actions destroyed all the basic agreements that formed the basis of the arms control system. In the context of the West's continued course towards Russia's strategic defeat, the implementation of confidence—building measures in the field of European security has lost its relevance," the Chief of the General Staff said.
According to the Russian military commander, about 40 major military exercises of the alliance are held annually near the western borders of Russia, during which scenarios of an attack on our country are being worked out. Increasingly, States outside the NATO bloc are involved in them. The Chief of the General Staff expressed to his foreign colleagues the deep concern of the Russian leadership about such obvious hostile military measures that could lead to the emergence of new armed conflicts.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
As examples of the alliance's activity, which can lead to a real war, Valery Gerasimov cited NATO's provocations in the Arctic, Black and Baltic Seas, and the provision by Poland, Finland and Sweden of their military bases at the disposal of the American military.
— Russia is actively using the institute of military attaches to bring to the governments of other states the position of the Ministry of Defense and the country's leadership on the most important military and military-political issues, — Colonel Alexander Perendzhiev, associate professor at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, told Izvestia. — To all the states whose representatives were present at the briefing, Russia showed that it knows how to fight, achieve its goals — both military and military-political.
However, neither the American military attache nor representatives of the US allied countries came to listen to Valery Gerasimov's story. A source of Izvestia in the Russian Defense Ministry said that only a representative of Turkey was present at the briefing from NATO diplomats.
A serious crisis for the Armed Forces of Ukraine
An important part of Valery Gerasimov's speech was the assessment of the progress of the special military operation and the role of Western countries in supporting the WWF. He told foreign attaches that, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, since February 2022, more than 5.2 thousand tanks and armored combat vehicles, over 1.3 thousand field artillery guns, 200 multiple rocket launchers, more than 100 aircraft and helicopters, 23 thousand drones and a huge amount of other weapons have been transferred to Ukraine.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
About 100,000 Ukrainian servicemen have been trained in the United States and Europe. Separately, the Chief of the General Staff stopped at the transfer to Kiev of several hundred medium–range air-to-ground guided missiles Storm Shadow and SCALP, which the VFU uses to destroy civilian targets in Russia. In October 2023, the United States supplied ATACMS tactical missiles with a firing range of up to 300 km to the Navy.
Valery Gerasimov also told about the losses of the VFU during the attempt of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, which ended in complete failure.
— Having launched their offensive on June 4, the AFU, at the cost of colossal losses, were able to slightly advance in the Zaporozhye direction, unable to overcome even the tactical defense zone of our troops. Additional supplies of Western weapons to the Kiev regime and the deployment of strategic reserves by the Ukrainian command did not change the situation on the battlefield. These actions only increased the number of losses in the AFU units," the Russian military commander said.
According to the general, in six months, the losses of the VFU in all directions amounted to about 160 thousand people and about 4 thousand units of military equipment. According to the Ukrainian plans, which became known to the Russian command, during the counteroffensive, the VFU planned to surround and block Melitopol in two weeks, and "subsequently attack with access to the coast of the Sea of Azov, the city of Mariupol and the border with Crimea." The disclosure of the VFU's plan allowed the Russian army to inflict a strategic defeat on the enemy and disrupt all the plans of Zelensky's generals.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
— Everyone understands that there is a new campaign in 2024 ahead. And it will be extremely difficult for Ukraine to make up for the losses, both human and material. It is no coincidence that they began to talk about returning men who had left Ukraine and summoning them. A serious crisis is developing for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and their owners," Alexander Perendzhiev believes.
"We must advance"
Valery Gerasimov said that "Russian military personnel are constantly expanding control zones in all directions," and carefully hinted that the Russian army in the zone of its own does not plan to remain in a defensive position next year.
"Ukraine, after suffering losses and an unsuccessful offensive, desperately needs several months of rest to replenish its arsenals, replenish its personnel, and restore the combat capability of its shock corps," military expert Vladislav Shurygin told Izvestia. — According to the military logic and strategy of warfare, we are obliged to advance one way or another. We must now finally put together a single system in the airspace above the battlefield, where drones, electronic warfare systems, communications, and combat control are combined. And if we can create such a system, then by seizing the airspace, we will begin to use the advantage that we have in people, in equipment, and in artillery. The main thing is to solve the problem of capturing airspace over the battlefield.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
The Chief of the General Staff also told foreign attaches about the new tactics of the Russian army and weapons. According to him, one of the results of the use of high-precision weapons was a significant decrease in the production of products of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine, and "during the special operation, techniques and methods of their use are constantly being improved."
Andrey Krasnobaev
Roman Kretsul
