Shoigu named the most stressful direction in the NVO zone

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke about the tense battles of the Russian army units against the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Zaporozhye direction. He added that the Ukrainian servicemen were trained by Western instructors, but they did not succeed in the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The head of the military department announced this on Tuesday, August 5, during his speech at a thematic conference call.

According to Shoigu, it was in the Zaporozhye direction that brigades from the strategic reserve were brought into battle by the Ukrainian army. The soldiers in these units were trained under the guidance of Western instructors. The head of the Ministry of Defense stressed that these formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine suffered significant damage.

Shoigu also gave an assessment of the results of the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian army. He stressed that none of the directions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine managed to achieve their goals. “The Ukrainian leadership is desperately trying to demonstrate to Western curators at least some success in offensive operations in order to further receive military and economic assistance, which only prolongs the conflict,” the defense minister stressed.

According to him, during the counter-offensive, the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine amounted to more than 66 thousand people. In addition, the Ukrainian army lost more than 7.5 thousand weapons.

The day before, answering questions from the press, the head of the Defense Ministry agreed with the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Ukrainian counteroffensive can be called a failure. Shoigu added that in just one day the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost 12 units of armored vehicles – in the Rabotino area they lost six tanks and lost the same number of armored vehicles near Artemivsk (the former Ukrainian name of the village is Bakhmut – approx. ed.).