Russia Vows To Ramp Up Attacks On Western Weapons In Ukraine

Russia's response to the Republican-led House passing Biden's foreign aid package which includes $61 billion in new military assistance for Ukraine has been to promise stepped-up targeting of the Western weapons store houses.

A new statement by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu additionally said "The Kiev regime has failed to achieve the goals of its counteroffensive prepared by NATO instructors" and that Russia has "dispelled the myth of the superiority of western weaponry" while its forces have clearly gained and held the initiative along the front lines.

"Our high combat potential allows us to constantly rain fire on the enemy and stop him from holding the line of defense," he said. This as "Russian defense enterprises have boosted their production capacities several times over."

"They have considerably increased the combat capabilities of our Armed Forces," the defense chief said. "This is evidenced by the situation in the special military operation area." He touted that Russia's arsenal is currently comprised of over 80% modern weapon systems.

Over the weekend Ukraine's President Zelensky admitted that his side "did lose the initiative" while awaiting for US military assistance; however, a number of reports and analysts have underscored that there's a bigger manpower problem, and that an infusion of new Western weapons is unlikely to make much of a difference.

Even Politico, which for two years prior painted a rosy picture of how Ukraine was doing on the battlefield, has in the last days been forced to admit the following:

Morale among troops is grim, ground down by relentless bombardment, a lack of advanced weapons, and losses on the battlefield. In cities hundreds of miles away from the front, the crowds of young men who lined up to join the army in the war’s early months have disappeared. Nowadays, eligible would-be recruits dodge the draft and spend their afternoons in nightclubs instead. Many have left the country altogether. 

As I discovered while reporting from Ukraine over the past month, the picture that emerged from dozens of interviews with political leaders, military officers, and ordinary citizens was one of a country slipping towards disaster.

Still, President Biden in hailing the weekend House passage of his massive military aid package (currently it's expected to sail swiftly through the Senate) has expressed hope it will give the struggling Ukraine army "the chance to stabilize the situation."

Russian media on an almost weekly basis has featured images of West-supplied weapon systems being destroyed or captured in Ukraine:

According to Sputnik, the above shows "footage of the transportation of a Leopard tank that was previously captured by Russian forces near Avdeyevka." Throughout the war thus far some dozens of Western tanks and armored troop carriers have been destroyed, several clips and battlefield images have confirmed.

Shoigu has further vowed that this current trajectory will continue, and that Russian forces have the clear momentum. Mainstream media reports in the West have of late generally agreed with this assessment.