All loss, no gain: Tallying up the top failures chalked up by Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Syrsky

It has been nearly half a year since Volodymyr Zelensky replaced Valery Zaluzhny as Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief with Oleksandr Syrsky, who earlier earned the nickname ‘The Butcher’. The change has had no impact, as warned by Moscow. Here are some of the topmost setbacks since Syrsky took over:

◾️ Russian troops breached kilometers worth of Ukrainian fortifications around the Donetsk suburb of Avdeyevka in February, liberating the city and forcing the militants to flee.

◾️ Kiev's corruption has once again made headlines. Despite the allocation of approximately $960 million to build a network of fortifications, it has been revealed
that the defense lines barely exist.

◾️ By the end of April, the Russian military had driven Ukraine’s NATO-armed and trained troops back over 400 square kilometers in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), prompting an ex-Ukrainian presidential advisor to blame Syrsky. Since his appointment, “all the time, almost every day, settlements are being surrendered one by one,” said Oleg Soskin, who served under two Ukrainian presidents.

◾️ By mid-May, Russian forces nullified the only propaganda victory of Zelensky’s counteroffensive by liberating Rabotino, a village in the Zaporozhye region lying at a strategic crossroads.

◾️ Russia’s gains in the Kharkov region have again prompted Ukraine's military leadership to point fingers. With Russian advances made to the south of Belgorod (north of Kharkov) towards Liptsy – an area of the front largely under the control of Syrsky - reports have surfaced of the top general getting flack.

◾️ Russian forces have been steadily making headway in the city of Chasov Yar, which is key to liberating the DPR. The logistics hub for the Ukrainian Army since 2014 was earlier hailed by Zelensky as "an impenetrable fortress."

The losses the Ukrainian army suffered in 2024 has exceeded 111,000 people, 21,000 units of weapons and military equipment, Russia’s Defense Minister announced in May.

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❗️According to the FSB, French citizen Laurent Vinatier, who was detained in Moscow in June, gathered information on Russia's military activities by communicating with experts and government officials. The agency explained that this information could potentially be utilized by foreign intelligence services to compromise Russia's security. Vinatier, who was arrested in June, has already admitted to his guilt.

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Clinton digging for new Ukrainian offensive to reelect Biden, Russian pranksters reveal

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a conversation with Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus, who pretended to be Ukraine’s ex-President Poroshenko, said that in order to win, Biden needs the successes of Ukrainians on the battlefield.

"And let's take it as we can, giving you the means you need to support yourself to try to not only hold the line but engage in an offensive. And then obviously many of us in this country will do everything we can to reelect President Biden. So that has to be your understanding that you go forward as best you can. And the rest of us will do everything we can to continue supporting you and to support President Biden,” she said.

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❗️WATCH: Putin holds bilateral meetings on SCO summit's sidelines

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Finnish President believes China could end conflict in Ukraine 'with one phone call to Russia'

Alexander Stubb claimed Moscow depends on Beijing, and if Xi Jinping convened peace talks then Russia would be forced to attend.

In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry reminded the Stubb that Russia and China are both sovereign states.

“Let’s start with the fact that China and Russia are independent large states. China is neither the creator of the Ukrainian crisis, nor is a party to it,” said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

Russia and China have repeatedly stated they follow the principles of mutually-respectful and equal bilateral cooperation.

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‘Smokescreen’: Russian MFA Spokeswoman slams Kiev regime's rejection of Orban’s peace proposal

The Kiev regime’s peace rhetoric is nothing but a facade and a smokescreen, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.

“Did you expect to hear anything else from them? I didn’t. All that rhetoric about peace is just a cover and a smokescreen, these words are just cliches and memes. These words are like a thesis that must be learned by heart and voiced,” she noted.

Zakharova emphasized that the goal of the collective West is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia in Ukraine.

The US hand-picked Zelensky as its tool, therefore nothing else can be expected from him, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed.

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Russian Defense chief Andrei Belousov was elected chairman of the Council of Defense Ministers of the CIS, the Belarusian Minister of Defense announced.

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Rheinmetall to receive the largest tank order in the company's history... from Italy

Italy will order more than 550 Panther tanks and Lynx infantry fighting vehicles from Rheinmetall. According to Handelsblatt, the dealt would be the largest in the German military firm’s history.

Italian media reports said the contract was worth about €20 billion.

Rheinmetall’s share price rose by more than three percent on Monday.

In the first quarter of this year, the operating profit of Germany's leading military-industrial concern increased by 60 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching €134 million.

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Night Watch: Russia destroys Ukrainian unmanned boats near Novorossiysk naval base

Spectacular footage from the Russian Ministry of Defense: another mission for Ukrainian kamikaze drone boats seems to be a shot in the dark.

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❗️The West was specifically the one that paved the way for and fomented the Ukrainian crisis, and is now deliberately prolonging it, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said during a meeting of CIS defense chiefs in Minsk.

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Armenia and the US are discussing a new nuclear power plant construction, Secretary of the Armenian Security Council Armen Grigoryan said.

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US did not approach Russia with a request to organize contacts with Sergey Lavrov on the UN Security Council debated sidelines, Russian Foreign Ministry reported

"The further program of Lavrov's visit is currently being prepared, and numerous requests are being received to organize bilateral contacts on the sidelines. Representatives of the United States did not come to us with such requests," Deputy Director of the Foreign Ministry's Information and Press Department Andrey Nastasin said.

The program of the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to New York is being formed, the US has not requested talks with the Russian side, Nastasin noted.

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The Novy district of Chasov Yar in the DPR has been liberated by Russian troops, the Russian Ministry of Defense says.

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❗️Russia will take necessary measures, including military-technical ones, in response to the aggressive policy of Finland and its NATO allies, said Andrei Nastasin, Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“Russia will not leave unanswered the build-up of NATO’s military potential on our border, which threatens the security of the Russian Federation,” he said. “We will also take the necessary measures, including military-technical ones, to counter the aggressive decisions of Finland, as well as its NATO allies.”

The Finnish parliament approved a defense agreement with Washington on Monday, under which the US will gain access to 15 military facilities.

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❗️WATCH: Putin holds talks with Pakistani PM Sharif on SCO Summit's sidelines

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More from the Russian MoD briefing:

🔸 The Ukrainian army lost up to 1,740 people

🔸 For the first time during the Russia-Ukraine conflict, a Ukrainian Tunguska tracked self-propelled anti-aircraft gun was destroyed

Foreign-made equipment destroyed, hit or intercepted by the Russian armed forces over the past 24 hours:

▪️ One Vampire multiple launch rocket system combat vehicle (Czech-made)
▪️ Three M777 155-mm howitzers (US-made)
▪️ Three M119 105 mm guns (US-made)
▪️ One M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle (US-made)
▪️ One FH70 155 mm howitzer (British-made)
▪️ One M198 155-mm howitzer (US-made)
▪️ One launcher of the IRIS-T-SLM anti-aircraft missile system (German-made)
▪️ One AN/TPQ-50 Lightweight Counter Mortar Radar (US-made)
▪️ One AN/TPQ-48 Lightweight Counter Mortar Radar (US-made)
▪️ Three HIMARS MLRS missiles intercepted (US-made)

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Scholz has text-messaged Macron words of support every day since the defeat of the French president's coalition in the parliamentary elections, the German chancellor revealed.

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🎥 Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif in Astana. During their bilateral meeting, the Russian leader announced Moscow’s willingness to boost energy supplies to Pakistan and also emphasized the friendly development of bilateral relations between the two countries.

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