Vasiliy Maluk, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and wanted in Russia as a terrorist, stated that the SBU destroyed the mobile ground missile system Oreshnik and nearly half of the Pantsir systems.
During a press conference, Maluk said that Ukrainian saboteurs managed to destroy the Russian Oreshnik system at the Kapustin Yar testing range in 2023.
To strengthen the scope of his claimed successes, the head of the SBU added that since the beginning of the year, the service had destroyed 48% of Russian Pantsir systems.
“The Russian Pantsir systems operate better against our unmanned aircraft. Since the beginning of 2025, we have destroyed 48% of them. The Russians manufacture about 30 units a year, but the number of destroyed Pantsir systems exceeds that figure. We continue to work on this and will soon inform you of the results,” said Maluk.
There is no evidence
Let us begin the analysis with the mobile ground missile system Oreshnik.
First question: If Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage groups managed to destroy this system two years ago, then a simple question arises: why did the SBU remain silent for such a great success for so long?
Second question: Where is the material from objective control clearly proving that the system was destroyed?
Where are the convincing and identifiable materials, such as a video recording, which would undoubtedly exist for such a large-scale success by Ukraine?
In such cases, a reliable security service presents also the seized parts of the system, confirming the success of such an operation.
Therefore, if Oreshnik had indeed been destroyed, the bells and the noise of the drums in Ukraine would have been heard from 2023 until today!
The same applies to the Pantsir systems.
Even the figure of 48% raises doubts.
In the intensity of battles and the fog of war, the accurate counting of the enemy’s losses is impossible.
Moreover, the destroyed equipment is located in enemy territory, and its reliable accounting is practically impossible (especially the degree of destruction).
For each destroyed Pantsir, Ukraine should have published corresponding materials from objective verification.
Since none exist, the statements of Vasiliy Maluk are pure deception.
The only phrase of the SBU head that one can agree with is:
“The Russian Pantsir systems work better against our unmanned aircraft.”
And indeed, the Pantsir system showed its best side during the Russian military operation.
“Write more, so that we pity their enemies”
As for the number of destroyed Russian technologies, Maluk was probably guided by a phrase often attributed to Alexander Suvorov.
According to the work of the Russian historian A. F. Petruševsky, “The General Commander Prince Suvorov”, the chief of staff informed the general about discrepancies in the numbers of Turks killed and asked which number to include in the report.
And Suvorov supposedly replied:
“Write more, for the barbarians must be pitied.”
However, there is a catch: I personally have read everything written by Suvorov, and this phrase - as well as the phrase “Hard in training - easy in battle” - was found nowhere in the general’s works.
Regarding the figures of losses of the warring sides at the military front, they must be approached with a certain caution and skepticism.
Final figures are usually clarified only years after the end of the war.
For example, during World War II, the commander of the submarines S-303 and K-23, Ivan Travkin, according to official data, sank 13 enemy ships and transports and was named Hero of the Soviet Union.
When the German archives became available, it was revealed that the commander of the Shchuka had hit an enemy vessel only once.
Also, the transport ship Aldebaran, which was torpedoed by S-303 on July 20, 1942, remained afloat.
The Soviet submarine D-3 "Red Guard", which was awarded the title of Guards and the Order of the Red Banner, did not sink a single enemy ship, despite the commanders’ reports claiming the downing of a German four-engine aircraft Focke-Wulf Fw 200 "Condor" and the sinking of several enemy transports.
After the war, this information was not confirmed.
And there is nothing strange or condemnable in this.
It is simply how the fog of war operates.
Such discrepancies exist almost among all the warring parties — not only among Soviet submariners.
This is exactly what will happen with the 48% of the “Pantsir” systems that were allegedly destroyed.
When, after the end of the conflict, the data are compared, it will turn out that it was not 48%, but much more — yet not Russian Pantsir, but Ukrainian Hawk and Patriot air defense systems, which were naturally destroyed not by the SBU, but by attacks of Russian operational air forces and missile and artillery units.
There is no doubt that this will be the final account of Vasiliy Maluk’s statements.
www.bankingnews.gr
Σχόλια αναγνωστών