Ukraine: Russian artillery appears to be struck in Izyum
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
An undated video published on Twitter on Tuesday, May 10 by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence shows a line of vehicles near Staryi Saltiv in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv followed by a strike on the rear vehicle. According to Kyiv, its servicemen “eliminated another new T-90M ‘Breakthrough’ tank” with a Carl Gustaf anti-tank rifle provided by the Swedish government. The equipment, it said, was “the pride of the Russian tank industry”.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin’s offensive in the Moscow-occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia, an oblast in southeastern Ukraine, is being met with resistance.
Its military administration wrote on Telegram: “The military situation in the Zaporizhia region has not changed significantly.
“The enemy is not conducting active hostilities, but is constantly shelling the positions of our troops with artillery.”
“According to locals, in Polohy, the Russian military shot about 20 of their cars,” it continued, “only to avoid going to the front line.”
Ukraine LIVE: Desperate Putin lashes out at spies as Russian dead ‘slung onto huge pile’
The post claimed Russian soldiers attempted to blame the destruction of the cars on “representatives of the resistance movement in the temporarily occupied territory of the Zaporizhzhia region”.
The military administration added: “The moral and psychological condition of the occupiers remains low, there is a systematic use of alcoholic beverages and desertion.”
Russia’s performance on the battlefield has been widely linked to low morale among Putin’s men.
As per the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD), Russia’s underestimation of Ukrainian resistance and its “best-case scenario” planning have added to the Kremlin’s demonstrable operational failings in a war it started nearly three months ago.
Those failings, the MoD said on Tuesday, May 10, prevented President Putin from announcing significant military success in Ukraine at the much-awaited Victory Day parade in Moscow on Monday, May 9.
It said: “Russia’s invasion plan is highly likely to have been based on the mistaken assumption that it would encounter limited resistance and would be able to encircle and bypass population centres rapidly.”
This assumption led Russian forces to attempt to carry out the initial phase of the assault “with a light, precise approach” aimed at achieving a quick victory with minimal cost.
DON’T MISS
Russian military in ‘embarrassing’ state [INSIGHT]
Putin handed boost as Finland’s application hits stumbling block [ANALYSIS]
Russian colonel admits military ‘cannot compete’ with Kyiv [REPORT]
Ukraine: Russian military losses discussed by Gardner
The ministry concluded: “This miscalculation led to unsustainable losses and a subsequent reduction in Russia’s operational focus.”
On May 2, the MoD said more than a quarter of the 120 battalion units Moscow committed to Ukraine have now been rendered combat-ineffective – a figure which represents about 65 percent of the Kremlin’s entire ground combat strength.
It claimed: “Some of Russia’s most elite units, including the VDV Airborne Forces, have suffered the highest levels of attrition.
“It will probably take years for Russia to reconstitute these forces.”
Ukraine’s Defence Ministry, meanwhile, said Moscow’s forces have lost 23,800 soldiers, 1,048 tanks, 2,519 armoured personnel carriers, 459 artillery systems, 194 aircraft and 84 cruise missiles.
According to the Security Service of Ukraine, the Russian military is counting killed soldiers in Ukraine as “missing” to hide the true number of combat deaths.
It said in a Facebook post on Tuesday, May 10 it had intercepted phone calls between Russian soldiers who admitted to hiding dead bodies in massive “dumps” across the country.
Source: Read Full Article
