 Sergei Shoigu began to defy the instructions of the Kremlin. Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu is trying to portray the Ukrainian counter-offensive as a failed operation despite the Kremlin's instructions not to downplay the gains made in the counter-offensive and not to exaggerate Russia's successes in order to position the Ministry of Defence as an effective leader in Ukraine hostilities following the recent Wagner Group mutiny. This was stated by the Institute for the Study of War ISW. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu attempted to portray the Ukrainian counter-offensive as a failed effort against the backdrop of the NATO summit. Shoigu implausibly claimed on 11 July that Ukrainian forces have lost 26,000 service members and 1,244 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles since starting counter-offensive operations on 4 June. Shoigu also tried to present possible Ukrainian interdiction efforts in southern Ukraine as similarly ineffective by claiming that Russian air defences have intercepted 176 Hymars rockets and 27 Storm Shadow cruise missiles since the start of the counter-offensive. The ISW said. According to the ISW, assessment, Russian Defence Ministry reporting on Ukrainian losses is likely highly inflated, with even Russian military bloggers pointing out that the Defence Ministry was counting strikes on already damaged and destroyed vehicles as new losses of Ukrainian equipment. Shoigu's rhetoric about the Ukrainian counter-offensive notably contradicts the Kremlin's reported media guidance instructing Russian state media not to downplay the counter-offensive or overstate Russian successes. Shoigu may be increasingly ignoring established Kremlin guidance on covering the counter-offensive in a renewed effort to portray the Ministry of Defence as an effective manager of the war in Ukraine following the Wagner Group's rebellion. The ISW report reads.