The Russian military went on a rampage on Tuesday afternoon, announcing new casualties it had inflicted on Ukrainian forces and strikes on decision-making centers in Kyiv after a drone attack on Moscow stunned the Russian public.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu personally intervened early in the afternoon, saying that Ukraine’s armed forces had lost more than 16,000 soldiers in May.

“Groups of Russian troops continue to inflict effective fire damage on the enemy. This month alone, its losses amounted to more than 16,000 soldiers, 16 planes, 5 helicopters, 466 unmanned aerial vehicles, more than 400 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 238 units of field artillery and mortars,” he said during a video conference. .

According to TASS, he also claimed that Russian forces had intercepted and destroyed “196 HIMARS missiles, 16 HARM missiles and 29 Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles.”

Speaking about the drones that fell in the Russian capital on Tuesday morning, Shoigu said that “Kyiv authorities, using NATO weapons, continue to strike social institutions, carry out terrorist attacks against the civilian population of Russia. Our Armed Forces respond as harshly as possible to the actions of Ukrainian militants.”

Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukraine attacked the Russian capital with eight drones, all of which were shot down without casualties or significant damage.

The chief propagandist of the Russian army announced strikes on decision-making centers in Ukraine

The spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Defense, General Ihor Konashenkov, announced after 15:00 that the Russian forces carried out airstrikes “on decision-making points in central Ukraine, where attacks on the territory of Russia were planned.”

“During the day, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out group strikes with the use of high-precision long-range weapons from the air on strongholds where terrorist acts were carried out under the leadership of specialists of Western special services. is planned on the territory of Russia,” Konashenkov said at an extraordinary briefing on Tuesday.

Konashenkov, as always, said that “all targets are affected”, reports Interfax.

He also reported that over the past day, the Russian military destroyed seven KHIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems and one KHARM anti-radar missile in the “special military operation zone”.

Former deputy Serhiy Shoigu explained that Russia is a “big country”

Before his new comments, retired general Andriy Kartapolov, chairman of the defense committee of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, also took the stage. Kartapolov, who previously held the post of Deputy Sergei Shoigu in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, tried to justify the fact that Moscow could be hit by drones.

“We have a very big country, and there is always a loophole where a drone can fly, bypassing areas where air defense systems are located,” he told the Russian RBC TV channel.

But Kartapolov emphasized that “the military is doing everything they should be doing,” citing as an example that the drones did not hit military or government units and did not cause serious damage to residential buildings.

The Russian general also noted that the drone attack is part of Ukraine’s information campaign.

“[Campania] it is designed to cause panic and provoke intense debate. The most important thing is to prevent this. This is an act of intimidation directed against the civilian population,” he said.

Ukraine denies direct involvement in the attack on Moscow on Tuesday morning, suggesting that it was the result of Russian guerrillas.

“Regarding the attacks: of course, we are happy to observe and predict an increase in the number of attacks. But, of course, we have nothing to do with this,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the President of Ukraine, on the YouTube channel “Breakfast Show”.

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