By Elena Teslova
MOSCOW (AA) - A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman claimed Tuesday that a large number of Ukraine's servicemen are refusing to take part in the fighting.
Igor Konashenkov said at a news conference in Moscow that at least 600 servicemen from Ukraine's 101st brigade of territorial defense refused to take part in hostilities.
In the 27th mechanized brigade, one battalion has 28 servicemen left, another has just one command squad, he said.
Ukrainian authorities are carrying out forced mobilization in areas adjacent to the combat area in police block settlements and detaining men of all age groups who are appropriate for mobilization, he said.
Ukraine's group of forces near Lysychansk, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy allegedly paid "a secret visit," is cut off from supplies, he said.
"According to the testimony of Ukrainian prisoners of war, the units of the 79th airborne assault brigade were abandoned by their command. The surviving servicemen could only surrender to save their lives.
"The 57th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is in the same condition, its commander, after losing two-thirds of the personnel, begged the command of the group to report the true state of affairs to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and personally Zelenskyy," he said.
Konashenkov called "a good target for the Russian fire systems" the M777 howitzers that were supplied to Ukraine by the US and EU and at least 15 were destroyed late Monday at a railway station without firing a single shot.
He also named several other targets hit in Ukraine during the last 24 hours.
"In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 209 aircraft, 132 helicopters, 1,292 unmanned aerial vehicles, 348 air defense systems, 3,709 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 580 multiple rocket launcher combat vehicles, 2,065 field artillery and mortars, as well as 3,760 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed," he said.
- Russia says Ukraine attacked gas platforms in Black Sea after failing to win back Zmiinyi Island
Konashenkov reported another attempt of the Ukrainian military to return control of Zmiinyi Island in the Black Sea.
Fifteen UAVs, under the guidance of another two, were supposed to carry out a mass strike on the island, he said.
A US Air Forces Global Hawk RQ-4 drone, flying at a high altitude, was providing reconnaissance data while S-300 air defense systems in the area of Tuzly and Ochakiv were ensuring air cover.
It was also planned to start simultaneous artillery fire from the Tochka-U missile systems, Uragan multiple rocket launchers, M777 howitzers and after the preparatory fire -- to launch an assault.
But the Russian Pantsir and Tor shot down all fired munitions -- 13 UAVs and 21 Uragan projectiles, which forced the Ukrainian military to turn their attack against objects of the Russian gas production infrastructure in the northwestern part of the Black Sea.
Gas platforms BK-1 and Crimea-1 were hit by an anti-ship missile and a drone, the strikes provoked fire, creating a threat of an ecological catastrophe, said Konashenkov.
In response, Russia struck at hangars with the UAVs at the Shkolny aerodrome near Odesa, two units of M777 howitzers, two launchers of the S-300 air defense system near Tuzly and Ochakiv, four ammunition depots and one Buk M-1 air defense system.