ST. PETERSBURG, July 23. /TASS/. Irrecoverable losses of the Ukrainian armed forces since the beginning of the counteroffensive attempts have already exceeded 26,000 people, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.

Thus, the Russian president commented on the words of the Belarusian leader that the irrecoverable losses of the Ukrainian forces since the beginning of the counteroffensive on June 4 amounted to 26,000 people.

"More," Putin pointed out, "Already more.".

In addition, Putin said that Russia would brief the Western public information about the losses among mercenaries from these countries fighting on the side of Ukraine. As for foreign mercenaries, they also suffer significant losses," the Russian leader said. "Big [losses] because of their tactics," Lukashenko added. "Yes," Putin nodded, "because of their stupidity."

"The public in the countries whose governments are sending people to the war zone today should also know what is happening there. And we will bring this to the people so that they can judge the actions of their rulers," the Russian president promised.

Lukashenko also said at the meeting that according to his information, more than 15 Leopard tanks and more than 20 Bradley armored vehicles had been destroyed in a single battle over the previous day, which is a record high number. "I think never before have so many foreign tanks been destroyed in one day," Putin agreed.

Lukashenko summarized that "there is no [Ukrainian] counteroffensive." "There is one, it just failed," Putin insisted.