(MENAFN- UkrinForm) As of February 24, the Russian army had not formed strike groupings at Ukraine's borders but they went for the full-blown offensive anyway, being underprepared.

That's according to Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov , who spoke in an interview with the Ukrainian Pravda news outlet, Ukrinform reports.

'As of February 24, the Russians had not formed strike grouping in the full sense of military art. I didn't come up with this myself, as I'm a civilian person. It's the military who explained this to me at the level of the General Staff that a strike grouping for an offensive requires certain features: command and control bodies and maintenance units, hospitals, logistical chains, strike units, etc.,' said Reznikov.

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According to the defense minister, this was partly why gradual de-occupation of Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions was a success for Ukraine's defense forces.

The minister noted that the Russians launched the offensive without being fully prepared for it, which is why their logistical chains were severed so easily.

As reported, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24. As of August 11, Ukrainian defenders have eliminated about 43,000 invaders.

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