Russian Defense Minister: "Ukraine's Major Counteroffensive Failed... Lost Over 60,000 Troops"

Sergei Shoigu, Russian Minister of Defense [Photo by Yonhap News]

Sergei Shoigu, Russia's Minister of Defense, on the 5th (local time) described Ukraine's counteroffensive as a "complete failure."

According to Russia's TASS news agency, Minister Shoigu said during a phone conference with senior Russian military officials that "the Ukrainian forces have failed to achieve their objectives on any front."

Russian President Vladimir Putin also assessed the previous day, after a summit in Sochi with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that "Ukraine's counteroffensive has failed" during a press conference.

However, regarding the southern Zaporizhzhia region controlled by Russia, he described it as "the most urgent area," explaining that Ukraine deployed combat brigades trained by Western instructors from strategic reserves to this region.

Minister Shoigu stated, "The enemy (Ukraine) has lost more than 66,000 personnel and over 7,600 pieces of equipment since the so-called 'counteroffensive' began."

He also emphasized that the Russian military shot down more than 159 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) rockets, over 1,000 drones (unmanned aerial vehicles), and 13 cruise missiles just last month.

He claimed, "The Ukrainian forces are considering these terrorist attacks on civilian facilities as military victories in order to conceal their counteroffensive failure."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.