Overview Destroyed Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery and even remnants of intercepted Russian missiles filled the main street of Kyiv on the eve of Ukraine’s Independence Day, footage from the Ukrainian capital shows, writes BGNES.
Kyiv authorities have clarified that there will be no public events in the city to mark this year’s Independence Day, with the exception of a parade of Russian military equipment. A spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence said earlier this month that he expected a volley of missile strikes from Russia to coincide with the national holiday.
A similar spectacle took place during last year’s Independence Day, but this year the parade marks 18 months since the start of the war.
Kyiv authorities say there will be no public events in the capital on the occasion of Independence Day, with the exception of a parade of Russian military equipment.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said earlier this month that Russia was expected to launch a series of missile attacks on the national holiday.
Analysts believe Russian President Vladimir Putin believed he would break through Ukrainian territory and capture Kiev just days after Moscow’s troops crossed the border in February 2022.
However, Russia was unable to wrest control of Kiev from Ukrainian forces at the start of the war, and experts say Russian fleets of tanks and military vehicles suffered significant damage in the first weeks of the war.
Russian soldiers have been forced to surrender numerous tanks to Ukraine and have lost many capable crews.
Estimates of the scale of vehicle losses lost by Russia and Ukraine vary, but Western experts suggest that the Ukrainian reports are the closest to the truth.
On Monday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced that since February 24, 2022, the Kremlin has lost 4,358 tanks.
Experts told Newsweek that figure likely includes armored vehicles in addition to tanks, but that it still represents a major loss for Russia compared to the pre-war period.
According to other estimates, such as that published by the Dutch platform Oryx, Russia has lost 2,253 main battle tanks in 18 months.
However, this data only includes visually confirmed losses, so the true number is believed to be higher.
On August 20, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that since the beginning of the war, Ukraine had lost 11,408 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, but did not provide concrete evidence for the indicated figures.
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2023-08-22 18:30:00
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