Liberation of Avdeyevka
"The enemy, flees [Avdeyevka], leaving many prisoners, many wounded behind. A lot of weapons were abandoned, a lot of portable anti-aircraft missile systems pipes. A lot of work is underway on mine clearance," he mentioned.
Ukraine's 'Counteroffensive'
“It was all planned, naturally, by the staff and the headquarters that was created, it still works there today... It works like in the near abroad, in their neighboring countries … the Baltic states,” he said.
"By the word 'serious' [counteroffensive] we mean not 100, not 200 people, when a group of almost 160,000 was being prepared, or to be more precise, 110 battalions plus 30 battalions almost in reserve, 800 tanks, almost 150 aircraft – airplanes and helicopters, more than 2,500 armored vehicles," he underlined.
"They lost 166,000 [soldiers as] killed and wounded... more than 800 tanks, almost 2,400 different armored fighting vehicles — armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles … in fact, from what they have today, more than half of the Leopards were destroyed, they lost 123 planes and helicopters in this direction," Shoigu noted.
NATO Capabilities in Support of Ukrainian Troops
"There are 67 NATO satellites alone, special reconnaissance satellites. And if we take together the satellite grouping of countries that support NATO countries, then this turns out to be 260 satellites that work against us and transmit information about the movement [of Russian troops] and many other things almost online," Shoigu mentioned.
Developments in the Kherson Region
“All the clearance has been completed [in Krynky],” he said, adding that Ukraine had four marine corps brigades there.