In its most recent statement, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed the country’s armed forces had launched a series of strikes against Ukrainian command centers and forts, including a local US Private Military Company (PMC) facility that supports the Kiev military. This comes as the war between Russia and Ukraine has now continued unabated for more than six months. According to the ministry, the mercenary base was owned by the Academi PMC, formerly known as the “infamous Blackwater Company.” It was located in the Donetsk People’s Republic near the city of Kramatorsk in Ukraine, Sputnik reported.
The Russian Defense Ministry further claimed that the attacks also damaged the base of operations of the nationalist Kraken battalion and Ukrainian missile attack coordination facilities near the village of Shurino in the Nikolaev region. In addition, at least 127 infantry and military equipment positions, 47 Ukrainian artillery positions and other targets were hit during the operations. The attacks were carried out as part of the ongoing “military special operation” by Russian forces in Ukraine, launched by President Vladimir Putin on February 24.
Putin will not be able to reach his “target” in Ukraine: the US secret service
Meanwhile, US intelligence has claimed that Russia’s casualties and depleted resources in Ukraine show its forces’ inability to achieve President Putin’s “goal” in the war-torn country. “We’re getting to a point where I think Putin needs to revise his goals for this operation. Because it’s pretty clear right now that he won’t be able to do what he originally set out to do,” Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said, according to the Associated Press (AP). him, Putin launched a full-blown war in Ukraine with the aim of destabilizing the western-leaning government in Ukraine.
Russia has lost over 54,000 troops since the war began, Ukraine claims
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry claimed that Russia, too, has suffered heavy casualties since the war began in late February. In its last operational update, the ministry claimed that Russia had lost nearly 54,480 troops, 4,718 armored personnel carriers (APV), 2,210 tanks, 1,309 artillery systems and 312 multiple missile systems (MLRS) and at least 168 anti-aircraft systems. In addition, the invaders lost up to 3,578 vehicles and fuel tanks, 918 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), 251 airplanes, 217 helicopters, 238 cruise missiles, 122 special equipment and 15 boats, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in a Facebook post.
