Shoigu says Russian army thwarted Ukrainian counter-offensive

Moscow, July 3 (EFE).- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu Monday said the much-hyped counter-offensive by Ukraine failed to achieve its military objectives .

The official Tass news agency referred to Ukrainian troops employing German-made Leopard tanks since the counter-offensive began on June 4. Russia has repeatedly claimed that its forces destroyed these tanks.

The Ukrainians “have not achieved its objectives in any of the frontline sectors, which testifies to the skills of Russian fighter,” Shoigu said.

He claimed that the Russian gains had busted the “high expectations from much-touted Western weapons.”

He said the victories demonstrated that the aborted armed rebellion by the Wagner private military company did not affect the performance of the Russian army.

“The provocation did not affect the actions of the troop grouping. The military continued to bravely and selflessly carry out the tasks assigned to them,” he said in a teleconference with the senior military commanders.

However, the Ukrainian defense ministry said its army regained another 37 square kilometers of territory in the east and south of the country last week.

The Russian minister said Moscow forces destroyed 16 Leopard tanks on the fronts of Donetsk, southern Donetsk, and Zaporizhia since the start of the counter-offensive.

He said despite the losses, “the Ukrainian leadership, at the insistence of West, requires the command of the armed forces to continue the offensive.”

He said Kyiv was trying to compensate for its “inability to secure success on the ground through terrorist attacks against civilian targets.”

The Russian minister said work had begun to establish the management bodies of the new military districts of Moscow and Leningrad. EFE

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