The Russian Armed Forces reportedly launched their largest series of missile strikes against Ukraine in recent months on Saturday, despite the alleged rebellion against the Kremlin by the Wagner mercenary group.
According to data compiled by the American national security think tank, The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian forces launched at least 40 Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles, nine Kh-22 cruise missiles, two Kalibr sea-based cruise missiles, two S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, as well as launching three Iranian-made Shahed suicide attack drones against targets in Ukraine on Saturday.
While the Ukrainian General Staff claimed to have shot down many of the missiles and two of the attack drones, at least ten missile strikes and one drone hit their targets in Ukrainian territory. Russia’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) claimed that Moscow’s forces successfully hit Ukrainian electronic intelligence centres as well as some aviation equipment at an airfield in the Kirovohrad region in addition to fuel storage facilities in Dnipro.
At least five people were reportedly killed during a missile strike on an apartment block in Kyiv, Ukrainian state media Ukrinform claimed.
KYIV, UKRAINE – 2023/06/24: General view of the damaged multi-storey residential building that was damaged as a result of a missile attack by the Russian army. The Russian army launched massive missile strikes on Ukraine. (Photo by Sergei Chuzavkov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The ISW noted that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner paramilitary forces likely could have disrupted Saturday’s assaults on Ukraine given that they had taken over the Russian military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, which has been one of the main coordinating centres for the war in Ukraine for the Russian Armed Forces.
“If Prigozhin was able to disrupt operations connected to the large strike series from the SMD headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, he likely refrained from doing so to avoid criticism that he was undermining the Russian war effort,” the ISW wrote.
“Prigozhin stated earlier in the day that Russian aviation units operating in Ukraine were flying according to their schedules and that Wagner’s control over military infrastructure in Rostov Oblast, including the Rostov airfield, would not disrupt Russian operations.”
Meanwhile, the Russian MoD also claimed on Sunday to have pushed back 20 attempts by Ukrainian forces in Kyiv’s counteroffensive efforts over the weekend. According to Russian state media RT, the ministry claimed that Ukraine had lost more than 800 soldiers in the past 24 hours, alone. Ukraine has not confirmed such losses, nor will they likely be independently verified.
Despite securing billions in military aid from the United States and Western allies such as the UK, Germany, and France, among others, the much-hyped counteroffensive from Kyiv has yet to make significant gains against the heavily dug-in Russian lines. Earlier this week, even President Volodymyr Zelensky said, in a rare frank admission, that the counteroffensive was going “slower than expected“.
KYIV, UKRAINE – JUNE 24: Emergency personnel clear rubble in search for victims in the heavily damaged apartment building that was hit by a downed Russian missile on June 24, 2023 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Roman Pilipey/Getty Images)
Commenting on the state of the war, Lord General David Julian Richards, the former Chief of the Defence Staff of the British Military, warned that the UK is at risk of “woefully underestimating” Russia and its military.
“It seems to me that we have been at risk of woefully underestimating Russia and her armed forces, you know, despite the obvious chaos at the top levels of Russian defence, and the arguments between Wagner and the General Staff, and so on,” Lord Richards told Times Radio.
“The fact is, it doesn’t appear as if Ukraine has been able to exploit it to achieve what it wants to do and needs to do, which is … a big penetration of the Russian lines.
“And I suspect that whilst it might yet still happen, that we are in, despite the weakened state, arguably of (Vladimir) Putin, we’re in for a long haul here.”
Nevertheless, taking the Wagner group off the board from the conflict will likely come as welcome news for the Ukrainians, given that the band of mercenaries led by Prigozhin appeared to be one of the most effective military units in the conflict.
Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council said according to state media Ukrinform that the failed rebellion against the Kremlin by the Wagner group represented “the first stage of the dismantling of Putin’s system,” adding that he believes others will come forward to attempt to dethrone Putin.