The biggest effect the week long drone attacks achieved was to shut down air traffic in Moscow for several hours.
After waiting a few days the Russian military responded in kind.
Over the last three days a record number of drones and missiles were launched against military installations and production facilities in Ukraine (archived):
Russia stepped up missile-and-drone assaults on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and other regions, killing at least 12 people overnight into Sunday after President Trump last week declined to impose further sanctions on Moscow over its refusal to halt its invasion.Russia attacked with a total of 367 drones and missiles—one of the largest single-night raids of the war, according to the Ukrainian Air Force—in a second consecutive day of pounding strikes that sent civilians running for shelters in the middle of the night.
Over three days the Russian forces used some 1,000 heavy drones plus 58 cruise- and 31 ballistic-missiles to attack Ukraine.
The Russian attacks are overwhelming (archived) the western provided air defenses:
https://t.me/s/kremlin_secrets
What did Avdiivka cost us? Truly scary numbers have become known
The capture of Avdiivka and further advance on this section of the front is the largest victory of the Russian army over the past year.
The military command was in a hurry to drive the Ukrainian Armed Forces out of there before the March Presidential elections. It was expected that Vladimir Vladimirovich would even record a video with Avdiivka in the background (but later this idea was abandoned).
A secret report on the results of the battles for Avdiivka came into our hands. It is worth noting that the city, like a bone in the throat, prevented the alignment of the front, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces had the opportunity to shoot at Donetsk from there, including using cannon artillery.
From November 1, 2023 to March 1, 2024, in Avdiivka and on the approaches to it, our army lost:
➖ 14,453 dead
➖ 1,267 are listed as missing
➖ 42,312 were injured and/or amputated
[ Total casualties lost in the taking of Avdiivka: 58,032. A 3:1 ratio would give >19,000 dead. ]
The scale of losses in technology is also known. In the battles for Avdiivka our troops lost:
➖ 242 tanks
➖ 384 armored vehicles
➖ 312 artillery systems
Sergei Shoigu has these figures. He also reported to Vladimir Putin about the capture of the city, but then there was no definitive data. Obviously, Shoigu is in no hurry to report such colossal losses in technology.
The President previously took the loss of equipment in the Northern Military District very hard.
Why are we publishing this information? There are several questions regarding Avdiivka.
The main one is that another destroyed city will not bring anything to the budget in the coming years, and we have already spent huge amounts of money on its capture (and still have to invest in restoration).
Also, in the battles for the city, almost 60,000 military personnel were killed or injured.
••And these are only those who could be counted.••
Perhaps our command’s tactics need to be adjusted? We really hope that there will be people around Vladimir Vladimirovich who will talk about the real scale of the tragedy in Avdiivka.
NATO Defense Ministers met today. A huge surge in Defense spending is on the table.
Deutsche Welle (Germany) reports:
“NATO alliance defense ministers have broadly endorsed a plan to increase spending to 5% of GDP, as US President Donald Trump has demanded the alliances members invest more...Non-US GDP exceeding $25 Trillion in 2024, going from 2% devoted to defense to 5%, would be over a $750 Billion dollar per year increase, from outside of the USA, to an annual total of about $1.275 Trillion from NATO members other than the USA.
The USA had about a $29 Billion GDP in 2024, and already spends over 4% on Defense. Altogether, that would raise SUPER NATO’s annual Defense spending to around $2.7 Trillion!
Russia had about a $2 Trillion GDP last year, and about a $150 Billion Defense Budget - less than 5% of what SUPER NATO is considering committing to, later this month at The Hague Summit.
...US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday said that NATO members were close to a deal on spending ahead of the Hague summit (June 24-25).
“This alliance, we believe, in a matter of weeks, will be committing to five percent — 3.5% in hard military and 1.5% in infrastructure and defense-related activities,” Hegseth said after meeting with NATO counterparts.”