British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace's statement about the alleged low effectiveness of the Russian Armed Forces during the operation in Ukraine is an attempt to justify the failures of local security forces equipped with British weapons, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Friday, RIA Novosti reported.

Earlier on Sky News, Wallace said that Russia had not achieved any of its targets in the first 24 hours of fighting, having allegedly lost 450 people.

According to Konashenkov, in professional terms, Wallace's personal assessments of the effectiveness of the Russian Armed Forces' special operation "are no deeper than his historical knowledge of the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War."

However, the general added, given the British Defence chief's access to MI6 and military intelligence information, his assessments look different.

"De facto, this is an attempt to justify Ben Wallace to the voters of the Conservative Party of Great Britain for the catastrophic failures of the Ukrainian security forces," Konashenkov said.