www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/17/russian-forces-face-shortage-of-tanks-as-counteroffensive-creeps-forward-ukraine
An increase in the manufacture of tanks was said by Shoigu to be necessary “to satisfy the needs of Russian forces carrying out the special military operation”, in comments that echoed those of Vladimir Putin earlier in the week.
Russia’s president had saidthe military was lacking sufficient “high-precision ammunition, communications equipment, aircraft, drones, and so on” while insisting that Ukraine had faced “catastrophic losses” in the first two weeks of its counteroffensive.
Hanna Maliar, a deputy defence minister, said Ukrainian forces were making ground, particularly in Zaporizhzhia, in the south of the country.
“Practically in all sectors where our units are attacking in the south, they have registered tactical successes,” she said. “They are gradually moving forward. At the moment, the advance is up to 2km in each direction.”
Maliar told the Guardian in an interview on Friday that the centre of the heaviest fighting had switched in the last week to the road to Mariupol, on the southern coast of the Donetsk oblast, where the Ukrainian offensive was slowly pushing back Russian forces, and that British Challenger tanks were “loaded and armed” to join the battle.
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