Russian Defense Minister says effectiveness of Western weapons falls far short of expectations in Ukraine

Specifically, on August 14, Mr. Sergey Shoigu announced that Western weapons transferred to Ukraine did not perform up to their expectations on the battlefield. Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Minister affirmed that Moscow's weapons have proven their effectiveness.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the annual military-technical forum Army 2023, Mr. Shoigu said that many innovations from the Russian defense industry have now been deployed on the battlefield to support soldiers carrying out military operations in Ukraine.

“In real conditions, our weapons have shown their reliability and effectiveness,” the minister said. “Meanwhile, Western equipment, which is widely advertised, has turned out to be imperfect in practice,” he added. Mr. Shoigu suggested that forum guests could verify this for themselves by viewing a collection of captured Western weapons on display at the exhibition.

RT said that the US and NATO have so far sent more than $100 billion worth of weapons, equipment and ammunition to Kiev. Earlier this year, they also supplied the Ukrainian army with modern Western tanks, hoping to organize a major Spring-Summer counteroffensive. However, since launching the operation in early June, Kiev has not made significant progress and has suffered heavy losses trying to break through Russian defenses. According to estimates by the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukraine has lost about 5,000 pieces of heavy equipment, including dozens of Western tanks and combat vehicles, along with about 43,000 soldiers.

Minister Shoigu said that the Russian defense industry not only "quickly adapted to operate under the pressure of heavy sanctions", but also increased its capabilities in a number of areas many times over.

The minister also affirmed that the Army forum has become one of the world's leading exhibitions in the defense sector and expressed hope that in the future this event will be able to further contribute to strengthening military-technical cooperation between Russia and other countries, establishing dialogue and facilitating the signing of mutually beneficial contracts.

The Army 2023 forum kicked off outside Moscow on August 14 and will run for a week. The annual event is held simultaneously at several locations. Negotiations at last year's exhibition resulted in the signing of contracts worth more than 500 billion rubles, or nearly $8 billion at the time.