MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS-DEFENSE/. Russian forces have destroyed 226 planes, 134 helicopters, 1,411 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), 3,873 tanks and other armored combat vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said.
“In total, 226 airplanes and 134 helicopters, 1,411 unmanned aerial vehicles, 353 anti-aircraft missile systems, 3,873 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 699 multiple launch rocket systems, 3,067 field artillery systems and mortars, as well as 3,948 items of special military automotive equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation,” Konashenkov said.
According to him, the Russian troops continue successful offensive near Lisichansk. Over the past three days, Russian units have taken under control the Lisichansk oil refinery, the Matrosskaya mine, the Gelatin plant and the settlement of Topolevka. The allied forces have reached Lisichansk.
The Ukrainian army is suffering heavy losses in that area. In the settlement of Verkhnekamenka, the enemy lost over 120 men killed in the past 24 hours and another 70 personnel killed in Verkhnekamenskoye, the spokesman said.
As Konashenkov said, the Ukrainian army’s failures on the battlefield are leading to a growing number of deserters and those who are escaping combat operations. A disorganized retreat of some Ukrainian troops from Lisichansk is being observed, he added.
The Ukrainian military command conceals in every possible way the facts that the troops are understaffed, the general said. In particular, a battalion of the Ukrainian 17th armored brigade operating in the area of the settlement of Novaya Poltavka in the Donetsk People’s Republic has no more than 20% of the personnel left, Konashenkov said.
Precision-guided attacks delivered by the Russian Aerospace Force have destroyed two command posts, five ammunition depots near Ivano-Daryevka, Seversk in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Belogorovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Nikolayev and Lepetikha in the Nikolayev Region, as well as manpower and military equipment of the Ukrainian army in 26 areas.
In counter-battery fire, precision weapons of the Russian Aerospace Force hit two platoons of multiple launch rocket systems and two artillery platoons near Lesovka, Selidovo and Netailovo that had been shelling settlements in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Konashenkov said.
“Operational-tactical and army aviation aircraft, missile and artillery troops hit 32 Ukrainian command posts, an air defense radar near Katranka in the Odessa Region, three ammunition depots near the settlement of Spornoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic and also manpower and military hardware in 297 areas,” the general said.
According to him, the Russian air defense forces shot down two Su-25 planes of the Ukrainian Air Force near the settlements of Barvenkovo and Kurulka in the Kharkov Region.
The Russian air defense forces also downed 11 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles near the settlements of Petrovenki and Berestovoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Brazhkovka, Velikiye Khutora, Staroverovka, Vesyoloye, Bairak, Getmanovka, Ivanchukovka and Peremoga in the Kharkov Region and Peremozhnaya in the Zaporozhye Region, Konashenkov said.
The troops intercepted eight MLRS rockets in Nikolskoye in the Kharkov Region, Stakhanov in the Lugansk People’s Republic and Pervomaisk in the Donetsk People’s Republic, he added.