As images and videos purportedly showing destroyed Ukrainian equipment appear online in Russian news, experts are cautioning against jumping to conclusions about a wider counteroffensive, Sky News reports.

Casualties are “inevitable in any military operation,” especially in offensive operations, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said.

The loss of Western equipment at the beginning of the counteroffensive “is not an indicator of future progress.”

The American think tank said: “It is important not to exaggerate the impact of initial losses of Western or any other equipment, especially in penetration battles against prepared defensive positions.”

The ISW said yesterday that Ukraine appears to have engaged “only a fraction of the large pool of available forces” in the counteroffensive.

“Observers should avoid counting Ukrainian brigades involved or Western equipment that may have been damaged as an indicator of the actual residual combat power of Ukrainian forces,” ISW concludes.

• Read also: Three key points of Ukraine’s “ambitious and dangerous” counterattacks

The Russians have released images of several Leopard tanks, Bradley armored vehicles and mine countermeasures destroyed and/or abandoned by Ukrainians in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Ukrainian armored vehicles in a counteroffensive from Zaporizhzhia Photo: Photo collage

In the absence of independent reports from the front, although Kyiv is silent, it is impossible to assess whether Ukrainian forces are breaking through Russian defenses, but Russia reported heavy fighting along the front line in southern Ukraine on Friday, and President Vladimir Putin says Ukrainian forces have not . achieve your goals.

While Ukraine refused to comment on the long-awaited counteroffensive and accused Russia of spreading lies about it, Clash Report calculated Ukraine’s losses since the start of the counteroffensive:

• – 5 Leopard 2A6 tanks
• – 6 armored Bradleys
• – 3 MaxxPro anti-mine vehicles
• – 1 Dutch YPR-765 armored car
• – 1 T-72M1 tank
• – 1 BMR-2 tank
• – 1 armored personnel carrier of the VAB
• – Several trucks burned