Today the Russian government revealed some numbers and information about its 'Special Military Operation'.
Today's 'clobber report' by the Ministry of Defense leads with this (machine translation):
During the day, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out group strikes using long-range high-precision air-launched weapons at central decision-making points where, under the guidance of specialists from Western intelligence agencies, terrorist acts were planned on Russian territory.
All assigned objects are hit.
'Central decision-making points' are ministries and main headquarters. These had so far not been targets. More to that below.
Defense Minister Shoigu had a conference call with the military command and noted:
"Russian forces continue to inflict an effective fire impact on the enemy. Its losses this month alone totaled over 16,000 troops, 16 aircraft, 5 helicopters, 466 drones, over 400 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, and 238 field artillery pieces and mortars," Shoigu said during a conference call.
He added that 196 HIMARS rockets, 16 HARM rockets and 29 Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles were intercepted and destroyed during the reviewed period.
The numbers are, with the exception of the downed Storm Shadows, largely consistent with the numbers from the daily 'clobber report' in my spreadsheet. But I have only counted 17 reported Storm Shadow kills over the last month. I do not know where Shoigu's 29 is coming from.
Shoigu also spoke of targets of the recent drone attacks in Ukraine (machine translation):
“The deliveries of equipment and weapons to Ukraine are increasing. We monitor the volumes and routes of supply and, if identified, strike.
In recent days, large warehouses of Western weapons in Khmelnytsky, Ternopil and Nikolaev have been destroyed, the American Patriot anti-aircraft missile system in Kyiv has been hit,” the Minister of Defense said.
"The military support of Ukraine only delays the hostilities, but cannot affect the outcome of the special military operation," the head of the military department is sure.
On today's drone strikes in Moscow he said (machine translation):
“This morning, the Kiev regime carried out a terrorist act in the Moscow region. I will note, on civilian objects.
It involved eight aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles.
They are all amazed.
In Moscow, three drones were suppressed by electronic warfare, lost control and deviated from their intended targets.
Five more were shot down in the Moscow region by the Pantsir anti-aircraft missile and gun system, the Minister of Defense said.
Other people had claimed up to 20 drones. But there was little damage and no reports of any casualties.
Also today was the third large drone and missile strike on Kiev within 24 hours. The were a total 17 strikes on Kiev in May 2023. I do not believe that Ukraine's claim of shooting down all missiles and drones is in any way reasonable. There will be a lot of damage in places Kiev does not want to talk about. The air defense in Kiev and elsewhere is exhausted and likely to soon run out of missiles. That will certainly increase the effectiveness of Russian strikes.
President Putin seemed to confirm that today's attack on a 'central decision-making points' hit the headquarter of military intelligence in Kiev:
Mark Sleboda @MarkSleboda1 – 13:28 UTC · May 30, 2023
Putin confirms recent Russian missile strike on Kiev regime military intelligence, under Budanov, which had claimed credit for several recent assassinations & terrorist bombings of civilians in Russia.
Budanov is a pretty nasty piece of s***. In a recent interview with Yahoo his threats were certainly not within the frame of any law:
The implication is that Budanov’s intelligence service, more commonly known by its Ukrainian acronym HUR, was behind a string of audacious and lethal attacks inside Russian territory — or what the Kremlin considers to be Russian territory. These include the August car-bomb assassination of Daria Dugina, daughter of Russia’s notorious far-right theorist Aleksandr Dugin, in central Moscow, and the suspected truck bombing in October that partially dismantled the Kerch Bridge, Russia’s only direct link from the Black Sea to occupied Crimea.
U.S. intelligence has attributed Dugina’s killing to the Ukrainian government, although not specifically to the HUR. Asked about this allegation, Budanov said, “Don’t continue with that topic. All I will comment on is that we’ve been killing Russians and we will keep killing Russians anywhere on the face of this world until the complete victory of Ukraine.”
Budanov should note that the old warrior tale has been updated to: "Live by the sword, die by the dagger missile."