Published 28th Feb, 2022

By Tola Owoyele

Russia has lost several combat equipment in the first five days of its invasion of Ukraine, the second largest country by area in Europe.

This was made known by Anna Malyar, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defence, in a Facebook post on Monday.

According to Malyar, the losses are 29 planes, 29 helicopters, 191 tanks, 816 battle armoured machines, 74 cannons, 1 ZRK BUK (bulk missile system), 60 cisterns and two ships/boats.

Malyar also stressed the challenges Ukraine is facing in gathering such data as accurately as possible, as the country’s main focus at the moment is the battle with Russia.

The minister said accurate figures would only be arrived at when fighting is over.

”Information is predictable and can be specified as it is extremely difficult to obtain after a fight, as the commanders focus first on leading the battle.
In addition, we can only get information after the fight is over, and the fights are extremely lasting in time. The arrival of data may occur the next day, and sometimes a day later,” she said.

She also added that it was difficult to document the exact dates Russia recorded the losses, as combat in some areas stretched longer than what was obtainable in other areas.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 after Vladimir Putin, its president, announced a “special military operation”, amid warnings from world leaders that it could spark the biggest war in Europe since 1945.

Since Russia annexed the Southern Crimea Peninsula, a territory in Ukraine, about eight years ago, Ukrainian forces have been locked in a war with Moscow-backed secessionists and rebels.

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