Minister of Defense Shoigu Calls Russia Successfully Destroyed 15 Aircraft and 100 Percent of Ukrainian Leopard Tanks in Donetsk

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu chaired a coordination meeting of military officials. (Wikimedia Commons/mil.ru/Ministry of Defense)

JAKARTA - Russia managed to destroy all the Leopard tanks supplied by Western allies, as the country's military fended off a Ukrainian offensive in the Donetsk region, said Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

This was revealed by Defense Minister Shoigu in a conference call with all military commanders on Monday. Ukraine itself is known to have started a counteroffensive, to recapture around 18 percent of its territory occupied by Russia during the invasion which has been going on for about 16 months.

"In the direction of southern Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk alone, where Ukrainian armed formations carried out an unsuccessful attack, Russian forces destroyed 15 aircraft, three helicopters, and 920 pieces of armor, including 16 Leopard tanks," said Defense Minister Shoigu, citing TASS, July 4.

"This number is actually 100 percent of tanks of this type supplied by Poland and Portugal," he continued.

He further said that the Russian armed forces effectively continue to inflict damage on the enemy significantly reducing its offensive potential.

Overall, he continued, Ukrainian troops had lost around 2.500 pieces of weaponry since June 4. In addition, Russian air defense forces intercepted 158 US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system rockets and 25 Storm Shadow cruise missiles over the past month, Shoigu said.

"The enemy has not yet achieved its goals in any sector of the front line, which testifies to the capabilities of the Russian warplanes and the unrealistically high expectations of the much-vaunted Western arsenal," Shoigu said.

Quoting Al Arabiya, Poland announced that it has delivered 10 German-made Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine. The previous month, Poland had delivered four such tanks.

In the same month, the Government of Portugal announced that it had delivered three German-made Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine.

Last June, Ukraine requested more Leopard tanks from Germany to aid its ground troops in the battle against Russian troops, after Moscow claimed it had destroyed about a dozen Kyiv tanks.