On probably the craziest day of the war since February 24, 2022, when the Russian forces began their wholescale invasion of Ukraine, the private military company Wagner Group started and stopped a promising coup d’etat in less than 24 hours.
However, despite the infighting within the Russian ranks, the war on the ground in Ukraine continues. Over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian forces have been attacking the Russian supply lines.
Ukrainian Counteroffensive and Russian Air Raids
Over the past few days, the Ukrainian military has been using long-range fires to strike Russian supply lines and logistical functions in the south.
For the targets furthest away, the Ukrainians have been using Storm Shadow cruise missiles. Recently supplied by the United Kingdom, these munitions can strike targets up to 200 miles away and can pretty much evade all Russian air defense systems.
During the same time Wagner Group mercenaries were advancing toward Moscow, the Russian military was unleashing yet another wave of cruise missiles and suicide drones at Ukrainian urban centers. In the pre-dawn hours of Saturday, the Russian forces launched more than 20 cruise missiles and suicide drones into Kyiv. Although the Ukrainian air defenses intercepted almost all incoming munitions, debris killed three people. This was the eighth time the Ukrainian capital came under attack in June.
In response to the latest air attack, Germany will be providing additional air defense systems to the Ukrainian military. Berlin announced that by the end of the year, it will have sent Ukraine 45 Gepard or Cheetah anti-aircraft systems.
Equipped with autocannons, these air defense systems are ideal against low-level threats, like the suicide drones that the Russian forces have been profusely used in the war.
With the Kremlin planning to secure the supply of suicide drones for some time, Ukraine will need cheaper air defense systems so that it doesn’t waste precious Patriot, IRIS-T, or NASAMS munitions on cheap suicide drones.
Russian Casualties
Meanwhile, on day 485 of the war, the Russian forces continue to take significant casualties.
In the Donbas, a battalion from the Ukrainian 3rd Assault Brigade crossed the Siverskyy Donets canal and clashed with a battalion from the Russian 57th Guard Motorized Brigade. The Ukrainians routed their adversaries, killing around 30 men, wounding more than 50, and taking about 10 prisoners.
These numbers are just from the fighting in one small sector of the front. The Russian forces are likely taking upward of 600 casualties every day.
Overall, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claimed that as of Saturday, Ukrainian forces have killed and wounded approximately 223,910 Russian troops.
Equipment destroyed includes: 314 fighter, attack, bomber, and transport jets, 308 attack and transport helicopters, 4,024 tanks, 4,015 artillery pieces, 7,804 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, 619 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), 18 boats and cutters, 6,731 vehicles and fuel tanks, 383 anti-aircraft batteries, 3,460 tactical unmanned aerial systems, 548 special equipment platforms, such as bridging vehicles, and four mobile Iskander ballistic missile systems, and 1,228 cruise missiles shot down by the Ukrainian air defenses.
A 19FortyFive Defense and National Security Columnist, Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
