Ex-separatist leader reviews Russia's, Ukraine's military successes, failures

The former separatist defence minister of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic", Igor Strelkov Girkin, has said that Russia is slow in its operations while Ukrainian forces destroy everything they can reach with the help of Western-provided arms during the ongoing hostilities.

He also focused on Russia’s and Ukraine's failures and achievements at the front on his Telegram channel, according to Caliber.Az.

"Ukrainians are strictly consistent in their primary interests. Their priority is ammunition depots and air defence positions - they have 'blown up' another ammunition depot in Novaya Kakhovka. The partners have already carefully posted the video online. Sources predict very high civilian casualties from the scene of the event, and not only - the local police department and many private houses have been completely demolished.

Nothing new at the front. The operational pause continues. That does not exclude the exchange of artillery and missile strikes. Our aviation and missile forces are striving to 'take revenge' for the recent 'loud' defeats of our rear facilities. Today, a lot of Ukrainians have flown in and to different places. Unfortunately, I do not have data on the effectiveness of these strikes, but they certainly cause serious losses to the enemy. In turn, the Ukrainian Armed Forces struck another blow with HIMARS [High Mobility Artillery Rocket System], this time - at the ammunition depot at the plant in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk. They hit [the target] again.

In Slovyansk, Siversk and Soledarsky's directions, our troops (according to numerous reports from open sources, 'Wagner' plays the key role in Soledar and Artemovsky) continue to push the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The enemy, in turn, is covered by units of its own 'mobs', and personnel and the most combat-ready forces are located in areas of the densest development, where it prepares the main line of defence.

I still don't expect any major successes in Donbas in the near future: if the main offensive actions of the Russian Armed Forces are continued here (as many believe), they will again be reduced to a slow and bloody (on both sides) 'gnawing through' pre-prepared defensive positions. Which, in my opinion, is also beneficial to the enemy (since at the moment he has a much larger human resource, and soon weapons will also be brought in abundance). I currently have no information on any changes to the front line outside of Donbas.

At night, Ukrainians destroyed an air defence base near Luhansk. And in the network, there are unique shots of how in broad daylight, without the slightest disguise, an echelon with the equipment of the Tochka-U missile system is moving in the Tula region in the south direction. I understand that masking tanks and infantry fighting vehicles - if there are absolutely no covers and even mask nets at the disposal of the Russian Defence Ministry - is not so necessary in the end. But missile systems (even outdated, but combat-ready) are the primary target for the enemy. And - once taking them 'under control' by means of space intelligence – 'dear Western partners' are unlikely to be able to 'lose' them further. Therefore, we should not be surprised if (or rather, when) the newly formed divisions of Tochka [missile complexes] will be destroyed by the enemy's longer-range HIMARS at the deployment stage or soon after," Strelkov-Girkin wrote.