Russia’s Defence Ministry has reported on the continuation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ (AFU) counteroffensive in the Southern Donetsk direction on 5 June and “significant losses” suffered by Ukraine’s troops, as per the evening bulletin by Igor Konashenkov, the Defence Ministry’s chief spokesperson.
According to the statement, Ukraine’s army was using, among other vehicles, German made Leopard tanks and French made AMX-10 wheeled tanks in its attacks.
“The enemy has been stopped, and the set tasks haven’t been achieved. The AFU formations and military units suffered significant losses,” the ministry claims.
The report states that the total losses of Ukraine amounted to “over 1,500 Ukrainian servicemen, 28 tanks, including FRG-manufactured 8 Leopard tanks, three French-manufactured AMX-10 wheeled tanks, and 109 armoured fighting vehicles”.
According to BBC News Russian, there has been no convincing proof shared with the public of the Leopard tanks or other western armoured vehicles being destroyed or damaged.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba previously said in an interview with Reuters that Ukraine had enough weapons for a counteroffensive.
Russia’s Defence Ministry previously reported that on 4 June Ukraine’s Armed Forces had begun a counteroffensive on five parts of the front line in the Southern Donetsk direction in the self-proclaimed Donetsk “people’s republic”. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky recently said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that Ukraine’s army was ready for the counteroffensive. He added that Ukraine still wanted to receive some more weapons from its allies. “We would like to have certain things, but we can’t wait for months,” he said.
