MoD official: Ukraine able to fend off overwhelming Russian troops with drones
Ukraine's drone units have helped its armed forces fend off attacks by numerically superior Russian troops on the front line, Gert Kaju, head of the defense readiness department at the Ministry of Defense, said.
"Ukrainians have been able to neutralize Russia's numerical advantage on the battlefield through the large-scale and highly effective use of drones," Kaju said at the Ministry of Defense's weekly briefing on Friday.
According to him, this could put Russia in a situation where it would have to further expand its already extensive recruitment efforts to offset losses or even announce an additional mobilization.
At the same time, he acknowledged that although the front line saw around 230 combat engagements per day last week, down from the previous 250, Russian forces continue to make slow but costly advances, relying primarily on infiltration tactics, particularly around key cities in Donetsk Oblast such as Kostiantynivka and the adjacent sectors.
According to Ukraine's General Staff, Russian forces captured around 16 square kilometers last week, but in doing so lost an average of 1,300 troops per day killed or wounded, Kaju noted.
"There are no signs that an operational breakthrough is possible and many of the gains Russia has claimed have in reality either been more limited or have been exaggerated altogether," Kaju said.
He also stressed that Russia is spreading disinformation about its victories.
"There are indications that Russia has used a number of manipulated videos to create the impression of progress on the battlefield, but in reality these claims have not been true," he said.
Kaju also highlighted Ukraine's intensified drone attacks on Russian logistics links in occupied Kherson Oblast and on the Crimean Peninsula.
"We assess that these continuous and large-scale attacks on lines of communication have and will continue to cause significant supply shortages across Crimea, as well as in Sevastopol, and naturally this also affects combat units," he said.
"In addition to attacking logistics routes, Ukraine has intensified its strikes against Russian command posts, air defense systems and other militarily important targets. The aim of all this is to hamper the Russian military leadership's ability to support units fighting on the front line," Kaju added.
However, Ukraine has not found an effective answer to Russia's air attacks, Kaju emphasized, pointing to the massive assault on Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv, on June 14-15, during which Russia launched 70 missiles and around 600 drones and struck several important Ukrainian cultural sites.
The Ministry of Defense official also noted that, in light of Ukraine's successful air strikes, Russia has relocated part of its Baltic Fleet from the naval bases at Kronstadt and Lomonosov on the Gulf of Finland to Baltiysk in Kaliningrad Oblast.
"In addition, Russia has once again decided to cancel the naval parade that was due to take place in St. Petersburg, once again out of fear of Ukraine's effective air strikes. This shows that Russia has serious problems maintaining its air defense capabilities," Kaju said.
--
Editor: Mait Ots, Marcus Turovski
