Ukrainian chronicle: ‘Soap opera offensives’ and their results for Kyiv

Many Ukrainian soldiers are captured during the announced offensive

• On August 4, 2023 Russian MoD released updated figures related to human and material losses of AFU during their alleged ‘offensive’.

Since the beginning of the highly advertised for political reasons ‘soap opera offensives’ by the Kyiv regime during June and July, the Armed Forces of Ukraine or AFU losses, in the course of combat actions, have already totaled more than forty-three thousand Ukrainian servicemen.

This figure does not include wounded and foreign mercenaries evacuated to Ukrainian hospitals and abroad, as well as servicemen eliminated as a result of long-range precision weapons strikes in rear areas.

Over four thousand nine hundred units of various AFU weapons have been destroyed on the line of contact, including 26 aircraft, nine helicopters, 1,831 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles.

They included 25 German-manufactured Leopard tanks, seven French AMX wheeled tanks and 21 U.S.-manufactured Bradley infantry fighting vehicles

In addition, the enemy losses were 747 field artillery pieces and mortars, including 76 U.S.-manufactured M777 artillery systems, as well as 84 self-propelled artillery systems from Poland, the United States, France and Germany.

• Russia’s Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport reported that Russian oil tanker named “Sig” had its hull damaged near the engine compartment as a result of a Ukrainian sea drone attack.

The agency said that the incident occurred on August 4, 2023 south of the Crimean Bridge, which had been also targeted by a Ukrainian naval drone raid last month. It added that none of “Sig”’s 11 crew had been wounded and that the vessel remains afloat. Two tugboats dispatched to help the ship have already arrived and repair works are underway, officials said.

Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian President, blamed the reported attack on Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of trying to orchestrate an environmental disaster in the Black Sea.

Vasiliy Malyuk, the head of Ukraine’s Security Service, hinted at the possible role of Kyiv in the incident, describing “all special ops in Ukraine’s territorial waters are completely legal.”

Ukrainian sea drones attacked the Black Sea Fleet Naval base at Novorossiysk early on August 4. Kyiv also tried to sink civilian ships sailing towards the Bosphorus on August 1 and 2, the Russian MoD said, adding that all attacking craft had been destroyed by Russian military task force.

• Western efforts to train Ukrainian pilots to fly advanced F-16 jets are being hampered by the service members’ poor English language skills, Politico reported on August 4, citing reliable sources. According to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the matter interviewed by the outlet, an initial group of eight Ukrainian ‘pilots’ who are allegedly proficient in English are ready to start training once a formal instruction plan is drawn up by several European countries and approved by the Pentagon.

However, “English proficiency remains a sticking point” with the rest of the 32 Ukrainian pilots earmarked for instruction on the F-16 fighter jets, Politico noted.

Efforts to lay the groundwork for the F-16 deliveries apparently hit several stumbling blocks, with a recent Politico report suggesting that the USA and its allies had not agreed on who exactly would train Ukrainian pilots, or where the instruction would take place.

Another report from the same outlet claimed that European countries had not received formal approval from Washington on the matter, with requests for the transfer of instruction manuals, flight simulators, and other materials still in limbo.

…The most challenging issue for NATO is seemingly not mastering English by Ukrainian ‘pilots’. The most unsurmountable goal for them is: will they be able to operate hi-tech F-16s during ‘dog fights’ with more efficient Russian pilots?

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