RUSSIA has lost nearly a billion dollars worth of weapons in Ukraine’s blitz that’s seen large swathes of territory liberated.
With the Ukrainians expert at refurbishing captured weapons, they are promising a large part of the equipment will be used to defeat Vladimir Putin’s forces and end the war.
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The Russian tyrant’s forces appear to have suffered an astonishing collapse, with Ukraine estimating to have reclaimed some 6000 square kilometres of territory from the invaders.
According to calculations by Forbes, Russia has lost at least $700 million worth of equipment from the beginning of the Ukrainian offensive on September 6 until the September 11.
And it also estimates Moscow’s forces are losing at battalion’s worth of kit per day, which includes a huge stash of equipment, so the figure is continuing to rise.
“Under the pressure of Ukrainian warriors, the Russian occupiers are fleeing and leaving behind entire arsenals,” said Vladyslav Abdula, a Ukrainian security service spokesman.
“We know what to do with them and will definitely use them as intended – against the enemies.”
Russian forces have buckled under the Ukrainian attack during which they’ve been outnumbered eight to one.
Kremlin commanders were bamboozled into thinking an offensive launched by the Ukrainians in Khreson was the main attack, according to analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The deception allowed the Ukrainians to surprise the Russians in the Kharkiv area with spectacular success.
“Russian forces are not conducting a controlled withdrawal and are hurriedly fleeing southeastern Kharkiv Oblast to escape encirclement around Izyum,” it said.
Striking images have emerged of huge quantities of Russian arms being abandoned or destroyed as troops flee in the face of the Ukrainian onslaught.
The haul of kit lost includes $133 million worth of tanks, $85 million in artillery equipment and drones worth $4 million.
Huge quantities of ammunition including rocket launchers have also fallen into Ukrainian hands.
As well as material losses, nearly 3000 Russians have been killed in the fighting and thousands of others captured.
RUSSIA’S LOSSES IN UKRAINE’S OFFENSIVE
Here’s a glimpse at the cost of some of the huge Russian losses
Tanks – $133 million
Armoured troop carriers – $94 million
Artillery – $85 million
Planes – $113 million
Helicopters – $73 million
Trucks – $24 million
Electronic warfare equipment – $90 million
Some Russians have even shot or blown themselves up rather than face battle, a captured commander has said.
The figures for Russian losses are staggering with analyst Jakub Janovsky calculating Russia lost a total of 336 fighting vehicles in the country from September 7-11.
Also in Ukrainian hands is a top secret electronic warfare jamming pod from $36 million fighter plane shot down during the offensive.
Western intelligence is now the “proud owner” of the state of the art piece of kit, independent military experts Oryx said.
They also found that since the start of the conflict, Russia has lost 5,802 vehicles.
This includes 1,073 tanks, 334 of which were captured and 51 were abandoned, since the beginning of the war
Since the start of the war, hero Ukrainian mechanics have been working flat out to refurbish captured Russian equipment.
In factories as well as small workshops, staff are being redirected to repairing equipment captured from Russian forces in the fighting.
President Volodymyr Zelensky even boasted that Russia has become one of the main suppliers of arms to their enemy.
“We take trophies and use them to protect Ukraine,” he said.
“Today, Russian troops are, in fact, one of the suppliers of equipment to our army.”
The Ukrainian victories have seen murmurings of discontent with some officials even daring to call for Putin to be removed.
That’s prompted his spokesman to warn that any criticism “must remain within the law”.
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