An incredible video of a Russian Mi-24 helicopter being shot down by the Ukrainian forces using a surface-to-air missile was posted by the Ukraine government on Saturday in the latest sign of Moscow’s mounting losses in the war.
According to reports, Russia has been facing greater than expected resistance from Ukraine’s forces fitted with Western armoury.
Not just aircraft, the Ukrainian military fighting the much larger Russian invasion force has been able to kill hundreds of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles using a hand-held anti-tank missile supplied by the US, reports have said.
UPD❗
Щойно на околицях Чернігова фахівці ППО збили ще один ворожий штурмовик! pic.twitter.com/D3yiff8uyr— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 5, 2022
One Berlin-based Eastern Europe expert Sergej Sumlenny went as far as predicting that the Russian military could be “on the verge of collapse”.
“RU obviously has no reserves left: the tanks they send to the front are very old, without active armor, look like training machines. They do not have trucks, using civilian ones,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Russian flat-bombing of Ukrainian cities is the opposite of what a nation which is about to conquer its wealthy neighbor (and Ukrainian province is wealthier than Russia’s one) It is a sign of desperation. Exactly as the attempt to use Red-Cross-marked trucks as ammo transports,” he said.
“Within the last days, the amount of Russian warplanes and helicopters shot by Ukrainian army, is increased: at least 4 warplanes and 1 helicopter. We are in the 10th day of war, and Ukrainian air defense is still working, and Russian pilots (the elite of the elite) are dying,” Mr Sumlenny said.
According to Ukrainian intelligence (and they get much info from the US I guess) Russia has already used 95% of all its ground forces gathered for the invasion, and it makes almost 100% of Russia’s active ground forces. Effectively, Ukraine has eliminated Russian ground forces /6
— Sergej Sumlenny (@sumlenny) March 4, 2022
If Ukraine would resist several more days, I am sure Russia will face the biggest defeat in its history. Nothing comparable. It will also trigger independency movements in Russia-occupied countries of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Ichkeriya, Sakha, Komi and others /10
— Sergej Sumlenny (@sumlenny) March 4, 2022
On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Western sanctions were akin to war as his forces pressed on with their assault on Ukraine, where planned civilian evacuations from two besieged cities were called off.
Russia and Ukraine traded blame over the failure to provide safe passage to civilians fleeing the two bombarded cities, on the 10th day of a war that has fuelled Europe’s biggest humanitarian disaster in decades.
The war, which began with Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, has sent nearly 1.5 million refugees fleeing westward into the European Union and provoked unprecedented international sanctions on Moscow and warnings of a global recession.
With inputs from NDTV
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