Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told officials that Ukraine’s capability to wage war was “nearly depleted” and said the war had exposed vulnerabilities in Western weapons systems.
The war has sown devastation across eastern and southern Ukraine, killed or injured hundreds of thousands of people and sparked the biggest rift in Russia’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of war crimes and called the Moscow invasion an imperial-style land grab. On the other hand, the Kremlin regards the conflict as an existential battle with a hostile West which it says wants to destroy Russia.
Speaking at a security conference in Moscow attended by China’s defense minister, Li Shangfu, Shoigu said the conflict had become a serious test for Russia.
“In the special military operation, the Russian army has debunked many myths about the superiority of Western military standards,” Shoigu said, according to a text provided by his ministry, quoted by Reuters , Wednesday (16/8/2023).
“The initial results of the combat operation show that Ukraine’s military resources are running out,” said Shoigu, one of President Vladimir Putin’s strongest allies. He did not provide detailed evidence to support either statement.
The West has branded the war Moscow’s biggest strategic blunder since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and Western leaders say they want to defeat Russia on the Ukrainian battlefield. The Ukrainian counteroffensive has so far failed to produce any major territorial success.
Russia says it will achieve all of its goals in Ukraine, which it sees as a puppet of the West. It has repeatedly indicated it is ready for a long war and has put much of its $2 trillion economy on a war footing.
Shoigu said he would share details about the weakness of Western weapons and that no one was immune.
“We have data on… the destruction of German tanks, American armored vehicles, British missiles and other weapons systems,” he said. “We are ready to share our assessment… with our partners.”
Shoigu accused Ukraine of repeatedly using civilian infrastructure to hide soldiers and heavy military equipment and of Kyiv shelling civilian settlements in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine, he said, had used the Black Sea grain deal as a cover to build weapons and ammunition depots in Odesa and other ports. Ukraine has repeatedly denied using civilian infrastructure for military purposes and denied any targeting of civilians.
In remarks addressed to China, Shoigu said that the West is deliberately inflaming the situation around Taiwan, comparing the situation to the Ukrainian war.
“Under these conditions, the bilateral relations between Russia and China have gone beyond the level of strategic relations in all respects, becoming more than just allies,” said Shoigu.
Source : CNBC
