Did Russia manage to destroy all NATO military aid sent to Ukraine, which is why Ukraine hasn't started a counteroffensive yet? No, that's not true: Russia itself disproved this claim on June 5, 2023, which was approximately six days after the video was posted, when it was reported to have repelled a massive Ukrainian attack. Furthermore, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stated in an interview to the Wall Street Journal on June 3, 2023, that the country is ready to launch the long-awaited counteroffensive. For security reasons, Ukraine's side has not announced an official date, but there are already enough indications that the preparatory phase has begun. Both events prove that Ukraine has more than enough resources left to conduct such operations.
The claim appeared in a video on TikTok (archived here) published by @plamenivanov7637 on May 30, 2023.
The Bulgarian text overlay, translated in English by Lead Stories staff, reads:
Russia has destroyed all NATO equipment in Ukraine. There has been no counterattack because Putin has destroyed the entire arsenal of NATO, including ammunition, missiles, radars, fighter jets, cruise missiles, depleted uranium tank shells, and drones. Putin has left them with only tanks without fuel and ammunition.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Jun 12 05:26:55 2023 UTC)
So far Russia has had little or no success in its attempts to track and destroy NATO military support supplies to Ukraine. On the rare occasions when this has happened, it has been overexposed by Russian channels, making it appear much more successful than it was in reality.
One of the most memorable cases of such a claim from the Russian side occurred during an attack on a warehouse in Khmelnytsky on May 12, 2023. As a result of the attack, the massive explosion created a cloud resembling a mushroom cloud, which was portrayed in Russian news as the destruction of depleted uranium tank munitions provided by the UK to Ukraine. However, there was no evidence that this type of ammunition was stored there or that it was destroyed. Instead, the explosion occurred at an air missile ammunition storage and fuel depot of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Air Force from the Soviet era. In addition, it has been proven that there was no increase in the radiation background in Khmelnytskyi or neighboring countries.
Similar propaganda reports of the successful destruction of NATO military aid, such as in the TikTok video in question, are multiplying as Ukraine's counteroffensive is starting to become a reality. This is particularly evident against the backdrop of Ukraine's information blackout, which Ukraine chose as a strategy before the start of the counteroffensive operation.
Due to the complete information blackout imposed by Ukraine in connection with the upcoming operation, it is impossible to determine the exact losses of the Ukrainian military equipment before the counteroffensive. However, Ukraine has repeatedly claimed that it will launch a counteroffensive only when all the necessary military equipment and ammunition are available. The current situation indicates that the first phase of this large-scale counteroffensive has begun, which would not have happened if Russia had succeeded in its goal and destroyed most of the military aid provided by NATO, as claimed in the video.
